


Night Terrors & New Beginnings

by XXPadfootXX



Series: The Dragon Academia Chronicles [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Best Friends, Bonding, Certain Depictions of Violence, F/M, Friendship, Modern AU, Original Character(s), Original Dragon Character - Freeform, Partial Mind Control, Possible Character Death, Referenced Other Ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-07-10 07:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 63,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XXPadfootXX/pseuds/XXPadfootXX
Summary: Izuku Midoriya had never seen a dragon in his life, only pictures. All dragon attacks were nullified in the media so as to avoid any panic within large cities, and so he had not even seen a dragon on video. That was why he had absolutely no clue what to do when he found himself staring into the intense depths of a dragon’s eyes.





	1. Dragons & Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first chapter of my HTTYD + MHA fanfiction! I think this will be a really fun story to both write and read but feel free to comment or dm me to let me know if I am doing something that you would like to have fixed! I will warn you that this story will be pretty violent and a little graphic. It probably won’t be too bad for most of you but I know that some readers are sensitive to that so I thought I’d just put it out there. I don’t own any of the MHA or HTTYD characters but the original character in this story, although based off of Toothless, has a unique personality and a set of character traits that I developed myself. I would also like to add that everything in this story remains in the same universe as My Hero Academia is now, dragons have just been added as if they had existed all along such as wolves or eagles. Also, the characters from HTTYD will show up later unless I decide to change it later, but I've changed it so that Hiccup and his friends and family live in the modern world just so that the timelines don't get mixed up. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy it!

Dragons were rare. Or at least, dragons seemed rare since they did not reveal themselves too often. They were dangerous, vicious and bloodthirsty creatures that preyed on those who did not pay attention, the innocent who did not look above them when going for a walk. Deaths caused by dragons did not happen too often in the city anymore because of the large number of dragon hunters who protected the cities from the blazing fire and sharp talons of the beasts but they did happen every once in a while when a dragon escaped from behind bars or managed to pick off a person from the edge of a town or city. Despite the significant research done and the statistics to support that information, Izuku Midoriya had never seen a dragon in his life, only pictures. All dragon attacks were nullified in the media so as to avoid any panic within large cities, and so he had not even seen a dragon on video. That was why he had absolutely no clue what to do when he found himself staring into the intense depths of a dragon’s eyes.

Izuku’s head hurt and his arms were sore from the rigorous training he had just done with All Might. Ever since he had gotten into UA, Izuku had done daily training sessions with All Might so as to improve his use with One for All, going to either Dagoba Beach where he had cleaned all of the trash, or moving to a peaceful clearing in the woods on the other side of town to spar with the great Symbol of Peace. He had been getting better, using his new physical strength from their pre-spar exercise routine, but he was still no match for All Might. He sighed to himself and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. All Might had offered him a ride home after their harsh training session but Izuku figured that walking would do him good and had taken the scenic route back towards his home. The trees around him swayed in the breeze and the birds chirped over his head merrily. Izuku paused in a clearing and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of the late spring air. He smelled the slight watery smell of the creek that lay nearby. He smelled the sweet scent of flowers and relished in the feeling of the sun on his face. He took one last deep breath before he started to walk again. The smells were pleasant, the flowers, the creek, the sun, the grass, the blood…

Izuku jolted to a halt, his step faltering to the point of almost making him fall over. He sniffed the air again, unsure if he smelled it correctly. Fear crept up his spine as he took in that metallic scent once again. That was definitely blood, and it was strong wherever it was. Izuku wanted to keep walking down the pretty pathway through the woods. He wanted to make it home before dinner so that he would not worry his mother. He wanted to do anything but investigate, but his legs were plotting against him. He felt as if he could no longer control his body as it turned him and forced him to pad through the tall grasses, straying away from the path, to see what was going on. He walked for a little while, the trees around him closing in on him, forming narrow lines. The grass was shorter here and the sun was beginning to become blotted out by the thick canopy of trees above him. He shivered as a chill set in, and he wanted nothing more than to turn back, to find the sun and the safety of the path, but his legs once again ignored his brain and continued to trek deep into the woods. The smell of blood was really strong now, he placed the hem of his shirt over his nose and mouth to avoid choking on the stench. Finally, he broke through the last row of trees and peered into a large clearing. The clearing normally would have been beautiful, short grass that was dappled with shadows on the corners but bright and sunny in the center with a glittering creek running through the center, gleaming in the lowering sun. Izuku may have even admired its natural perfection had the situation been different. But it wasn’t. The clearing was covered in blood, the grass was soaked with it, stained a deep red. There were no bodies but Izuku noticed some of the blood that dripped slowly from the branch of a nearby tree. But that was not even the worst part.

In the center of the clearing was a dragon.

Izuku sucked in a terrified breath and fumbled to reach for the knife that he kept at his hip. He was not normally one to carry a knife, but his mother had been worried about him wandering around on his own now that he was going UA and had given him a pocket knife for his birthday. It wasn’t much and he was worried that it wouldn’t even penetrate the pelt of a dragon, but it was all that he had. His hand shook as he held the knife aloft, his whole body tense and waiting for the creature to pounce on him and add him to the bloody stew in the clearing. He could see the creature looking at him, its eyes wide and its cat-like pupils narrowed into slits. Izuku tried to calm his breathing, he was probably with the most dangerous animal on the planet, if he panicked, he was dead. 

His eyes darted around the clearing as he tried to piece together a plan, anything to help him in this situation. He did not know why the dragon had not attacked him yet, but he could not assume that he was safe just because the creature was lying on its side. He had no idea what species of a dragon it was and he could not judge whether it was a hunting tactic or whether it was just tired and full. His fingers tightened on the knife and Izuku locked eyes with the beast. He would fight. He knew he couldn’t win but he just had to try, for the sake of the people who he assumed did not leave this clearing and for the sake of those who had helped him to become who he was now. He stood up straighter and took one shaky step into the clearing. The dragon lifted the corner of its lip in a half snarl and let out a cross between a growl and a pained groan. Izuku froze, the knife shaking so badly in his hand that he could barely keep ahold of it, and waited in a half-crouched position for the beast to leap out at him with its claws outstretched and flames billowing out of its mouth. The dragon lifted its head slightly, watching him with wide eyes before letting its head fall back to the ground with a muffled thump.

Izuku let out a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding. His legs felt like jello but he forced himself to take another step, and then another. The dragon did not even react this time, its head remaining on the ground and its eyes closing. The dragon did nothing. Even though most of its body was obscured by a large boulder, Izuku could tell that its whole body was limp. It was vulnerable, maybe it was exhausted from killing the people in the clearing. Izuku decided that this was his chance to kill the beast and escape with his life and the justice of the dead who did not manage to kill the dragon. With a loud battle cry, Izuku launched forward, the knife thrust in front of him, running at the dragon with all of the strength he could muster. The dragon again did not react and merely turned its head away with a sigh. Izuku rounded the boulder and raised his arm to bring down the knife when the sight of the creature’s body caused him to freeze in place. 

The dragon was lying on its side with its legs, tail, and wings bound by firm ropes with hooks on the ends that sank into its flesh on its chest and lower back. Its back leg was twisted horribly in the wrong direction and one of its wings was obviously broken at the curve, a shiny white bone sticking out of the top like a white knife. Scars and open wounds crisscrossed over the dragon’s body like a grotesque map, including an enormous gash that was leaking blood all over the meadow ground, and one of the dragon’s eyes was swollen shut with three long claw marks that started a little bit above the eyelid, went over the eyelid and ended a few centimeters below the eye. Izuku stood with his mouth agape, the knife held aloft in a shaking hand as he took in the sight of the dragon. He tried to tell himself that the dragon deserved this, that the beast was a killer and it had been restrained to avoid any more bloodshed. But when looking at the sad creature before him, something that was probably gorgeous and proud once, he couldn’t bring himself to blame it. If it had killed the people, Izuku reasoned that it must have either been following its instinct to eat when hungry or it was trying to protect itself. He realized that he had allowed his hands to bring the knife down to his head, resting it there as he stood over the beast, thinking. He shook his head and raised the knife again, closing his eyes and leaning back to fling the knife down. 

The dragon suddenly let out a pained whine. Izuku’s eyes flew open and he looked down at the dragon in shock. It sounded exactly like an injured puppy. His breathing sped up and he tried to raise the knife again, but he suddenly dropped it. He heard it clang against the stone behind him and Izuku had to force himself to keep from running away as fast as possible. He ran his hands through his hair and looked at the dragon in the eye once more. His hand flew up to his mouth and he couldn’t stop himself from falling backward a few steps as he looked into the creature’s eyes. The pupils were wide now so that the dragon looked almost cute and a single tear was trailing down its face. Conflicted feelings coursed through Izuku as he looked at the pitiful beast, he wanted to kill it or run away but the hero side of him also wanted to stay and help it. He stood and stared for a little while, allowing his eyes to rove over the dragon’s wounds before he finally made a decision. A decision, that he did not know would change his life forever.

Trying and failing to keep his hands steady, Izuku leaned down with the pocket knife and pressed it to the dragon’s side. The dragon let out another agonized whine before closing its eyes and tilting its head to a more comfortable position on the grass. Izuku took a deep breath and whispered to the dragon.

“Please don’t kill me.”

Then, with a swift jerk of his arm, Izuku sliced his knife through the thinner threads of the rope. The dragon’s eyes snapped open and it took everything in Izuku’s power to remain by its side and continue to cut the rope that was looped over its midnight black scales. He placed the knife against another rope and jerked his arm again, fighting against the tough material until it gave way to his actions. Finally, the last rope was cut and everything fell loose, slipping down the dragon’s legs and pooling on the meadow floor. Izuku put his hands up and flinched, his eyes closed as he waited for the dragon to pounce on him now that it was free. His whole body was shaking and his breathing was so fast-paced that he thought he might pass out. He waited, but no attack came. He opened his eyes just a crack to see that the dragon had shuffled its legs around so that it was able to tuck them underneath its chest but it had made no move to actually stand. Its back leg was still horribly twisted and the hooks from the rope were still lodged in the dragon’s chest and back. Izuku lowered his hands slowly and peered at the dragon. The dragon watched him as well with its lips pulled back into a slight snarl. Neither moved. 

That was when the voice echoed loudly throughout the woods. The dragon sat up as high as it could without standing to peer over Izuku’s shoulder and Izuku jumped in surprise at the noise.

“Oh yes sir, it is over here!”

“You don’t think it is already gone?”

“It may have injured a lot of our men, but it was pretty tied up and it was wounded to the point of barely remaining conscious. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was out cold.”

“Let's hope so, that would make things so much easier.”

The voices started to get louder as their owners got closer to the clearing. They were laughing and joking loudly as they walked. Izuku wanted to be excited that help was on the way, but he couldn’t help feeling as if these people were not the right kind of help. The dragon beside him started trying to move, lifting its wings with a grimace and scrambling to get its legs underneath it. It only took a few more minutes for the men to break through the ring of trees and enter the clearing. Almost as if the men were poisonous, the dragon who had been struggling just moments before, landed on the ground with a sickening crunch. The beast just allowed itself to crash to the forest floor and laid there limply, like a dead dog. 

The men stopped laughing and looked at Izuku, their smiles fading as they eyed him and the limp dragon beside him. Nobody spoke. Izuku wanted to stand or walk or at least move but his body refused to cooperate. He sat still, his knife hovering in the air over his leg, dripping with dragon’s blood onto his pant leg. The men looked from Izuku’s face to the bloody knife, their eyes widening and smoldering. Finally, one of the men took a step closer and cleared his throat.

“What is your name, boy?”

Izuku knew better than to answer with his real name and forced himself to quickly throw back the first name that came to mind.

“Tamaki Atari.” 

“What are you doing here, Atari?”

Izuku gulped and slowly wiped the dragon’s blood from his knife onto his pant leg.

“I smelled a strong tang of blood and came to see if everyone was okay.” Izuku glanced around nervously. “I was shocked by what I found.”

The man looked back to his friend and dipped his head in a slight curt nod that Izuku almost missed. 

“Of course you were, I am so sorry for what you have found here, that feral beast came and attacked our men out of the blue when we were camping. You must be troubled and scared, come on we can take you home.” The man held out his hand and smiled warmly at Izuku, so warmly that it was almost convincing enough to make him go to the man. Almost.

“It’s alright, I can walk home myself,” Izuku said, forcing himself to his wobbly feet. He managed to steady himself and face the men but he never dropped the knife. 

“No really, boy. We don’t want you getting hurt, do we?”

“I’m alright, I know my way home.” Izuku tried to steady his shaking hand but he couldn’t stop the little tremors from trailing up and down his arms. 

“You need to come with us.” The man said, now dropping his warm persona to replace it with a cold demeanor, topped with a venomous grin.

“No, I can’t do that,” Izuku said, shaking his head.

“If you can kill a Night Fury then you can walk a little way with us.”

Izuku felt his jaw drop but he didn’t care. He could understand how they assessed the situation and connected the dots so that he seemed like a dragon killer but it surprised him nonetheless. He just couldn’t see how he, Izuku Midoriya, could be seen as someone to kill something as strong, powerful, and dangerous as a dragon. Even though he had buffed up a little bit with the training from All Might, he just couldn’t see himself as a dragon hunter.

“No, no, no, it's not what you think! I didn’t kill this dragon! I found it like this!”

“Why is your knife covered in blood then?”

“I used it to cut off the ropes.”  
The men both sighed and looked at each other in furious annoyance.

“So you are one of those people, huh?”

“Those people?”

“The people who think that killing dragons is wrong and inhumane. The people who think that we should treat dragons like dogs and take care of them. Make a sanctuary for them.” The man’s face scrunched up with disgust. “It’s completely delusional.”

“I know nothing about dragons, I do not have an opinion,” Izuku said quickly. “I just saw a dragon that was mostly dead and I thought that I could do it a final service by just releasing its bonds. It was too weak to do anything but lay on the grass and bleed.” 

The men looked at each other once more before turning back to Izuku, their eyes lit with a furious flame.

“First, you kill the one thing that would have made us the richest men on Earth, and then you lie to us with this dragon wellness bullshit.” The man speaking pulled out a long sword that Izuku had not noticed had been strapped on his back and hidden beneath his shabby cloak. 

“DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH YOU HAVE COST US, BOY!?” The man suddenly screamed, running at Izuku with the sword held aloft.

“YOU THINK YOU ARE SUCH A HERO DON’T YOU? YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING!”

Izuku covered his face with his hands and flinched as the man bolted at him with a shocking speed that rivaled that of Iida’s speed. Izuku guessed that the man’s quirk was at work. Even if he had had full control of One for All there was no way he would have been able to dodge him. That is why when Izuku did not feel the sudden burn of the sword thrusting through him, he felt confused. He opened one eye tentatively and peered through his fingers, almost afraid of what he would see. His eyes widened in shock and it took everything he had to avoid tripping backward in surprise. Standing in front of him, holding the sword in its teeth was the dragon. Izuku was sure that the beast had been barely able to even lift its head let alone jump up and run in front of a flying sword. But here it was, snarling at the men while holding the sword in its mouth, the man’s arm still holding onto the hilt. He released the hilt of the sword with a choked gasp and scrambled away from the dragon with a laugh that sounded almost hysterical. 

“So you are alive,” The man said with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “I am so happy to see that.”

The dragon dropped the sword where it hit the soft earth with a wet squelch, landing in the mud and the blood that soaked the clearing. Everything was silent. Even the birds had gone quiet as the dragon and the men stared at each other. Then, quick as lightning, one of the men swung around and snatched a long iron whip from out of his bag. He held it aloft and allowed it to uncoil, pooling on the forest floor with a sound like pebbles rolling down a cliffside. The dragon let out a vicious snarl that seemed to shake the forest to its core and raised its broken wings, its teeth bared. Despite having his vision partly obscured by the large black wings of the dragon, he could still see the man with the whip. The man rattled the chain twice and clucked with his tongue. 

At first, Izuku thought that the man was trying to subdue the dragon with those actions and noises but suddenly, about twenty men broke through the tree line and rushed into the clearing, weapons raised. A group of the men even brought out a large metal cage that was filled with spikes on all of the sides both inside and outside. Izuku froze, he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t understand why this dragon was so valuable and yet so tortured. He didn’t understand why the most deadly creature on the planet was fighting to protect him. And he didn’t understand why he got involved. The only thing he did understand was his sense of justice as all of the hero lessons from All Might came flooding into his brain all at once. Izuku did not even think before pushing the dragon’s wing back and ducking underneath it. He did not think as he ignored the dragon’s warning growl at him and he did not think when he used his own body to cover the dragon. He faced away from the dragon and hovered his right hand over its panther-like head while his left hand hovered over its side, palms down. He held his head high and did not think as the quarry of men rushed both him and the dragon. 

As the men got closer, Izuku leaned back so as to provide even more of his minimal protection, placing his right hand right on the dragon’s head above the eyes but below the ears. He felt the dragon’s surprisingly soft scales despite their strength and felt the little fin-like scales that ran up the length of the dragon’s face from just above the nostrils to a little way before the base of the ears. He felt the dragon’s mix of warm and cool scales, the strange mix of temperatures flooding into his fingertips like touching an ice cube doused in salt. That was when his hand suddenly flared with heat and pain. Izuku could not contain the scream that managed to rise out of his throat. He heard the dragon roar in pain and even though his brain started to go hazy with a mess of thoughts, one thing was clear:

He had done the right thing.


	2. Combustion Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all of the support, this story has only been out for a few days and people have already started to enjoy reading it! I am very grateful for all of you, as you make this writing experience worth it! Here is the next chapter, and I hope I can continue to write up to your standards as I want to provide the best entertainment possible for all of you! All forms of criticism are not only welcome but encouraged as I want to know how I can better my writing for you.

Izuku was a dragon. He was young and spritely with a warm heart and a lively spirit. He was galloping through a forest with his siblings, other dragons like him who were roaring in excitement and pawing at each other playfully. Then Izuku was fighting an older dragon, one who looked powerful. He fought every morning with this older dragon, leaping in the air, twisting, biting, and flying. He beat the air with his small wings, curling his tail underneath him so that the older dragon could not catch hold of it to pull him down. He fought until he finally pinned the bigger dragon beneath him with a fighting move that he had never even seen before. A kind of twirl where he caught the older dragon under the chin by approaching the blind spot, using a flash of shadow to distract the older dragon and then flipping him over by pressing all four of his paws into the dragon's wings and two pressure points at the base of the wings. He roared in victory and looked down at the older dragon who laughed and nuzzled him.

Suddenly there was blood everywhere, he was in a cage with another dragon pup. He knew this dragon as his best friend, the one who had always been nice to him despite the other dragon pups making fun of Izuku for being born without claws. Dead dragon bodies stained the forest red and bones stuck up like thorns in the foliage. He peered through the bars to see cloaked men holding weapons and striking down anything that moved while taking all of the pups and throwing them into cages.

Then everything was dark, he tasted blood on his tongue and felt a warm sticky liquid on his paws. More bodies were here except none of the blood would go away because instead of soaking into the soft earth of the forest floor, it would just spread across the metallic flooring that had replaced the spongy ground of his home. That was when a bunch of random images started flooding his brain at once, moving from a dark cell to a booming city, from visions of dead dragons that looked like him to images of a man with gray hair, cracked lips, and hands covering his body, standing over him with a whip. The whip was raised high above the hand man’s head before it came crashing down with a clap. He felt the pain rip through his back and felt the blood spill over his wings and run down his legs.

“You will obey.” The hand man said in a scratchy voice before raising the whip once more.

Izuku woke up panting, his throat raw from the screaming. His eyes were wide and sweat was streaming down his face and back. His hands were gripping the front of his shirt to the point that his knuckles were white and his fingers were starting to bruise. He gulped in air as if he had been stuck underwater, looking around at his surroundings in fear and faint curiosity. He was in a hospital room, hooked up to a monitor. His mother was sitting in a chair against the wall, asleep. He looked to his bedside table to see cards and flowers from all of his classmates in class 1-A. He glanced around to the other side of the room and saw his two best friends also sitting in chairs. Tenya Iida was fast asleep just like Izuku’s mother, his mouth open as he snored and his glasses crooked on his face as he leaned his head back against the chair. Ochako Uraraka, on the other hand, was wide awake and reading a book by his bedside. It took Izuku a moment to realize that she was reading the book aloud. She paused when she saw him looking at her, her mouth open to read the next sentence of the book.   
Immediately, she shut the book and dragged her chair closer to his bedside, her eyes wide with worry.

“Deku!” Ochako whispered. “How are you feeling?” 

Izuku looked into her face and analyzed every feature, from her beautiful brown eyes to her soft skin, touched by the adorable blush marks on her cheeks. He blushed when he realized he was ogling her and she was waiting for his answer. 

“I’m feeling a little shaken up but otherwise fine,” Izuku said. “What happened, Uraraka? I can’t remember much.” 

Ochako’s face darkened a little and he felt his anxiety rise with it.

“It was a dragon attack, Izuku. We don’t know where it came from but we just found you, bleeding and shaking in a tree. Your mother got worried when you didn’t get home on time and so after waiting a while she called the police. We came along to look for you. All Might said that he often saw you take this scenic route home so we searched there first. It took us almost three hours.”

“I was hanging from a tree?” Izuku asked.

“No, not hanging, you were actually resting on a bed of leaves, that was why it was so hard to find you, your green hair blended in with the canopy and your body was obscured by the branches and leaves.”

“Oh,” Izuku thought for a minute, allowing the room to fill up with silence. “Was the dragon there?” 

“No, thank god,” Ochako murmured. “We were scared enough already, but I think the bloodthirsty beast was just looking for some extra prey to hunt for, saving you for later. I was really worried for you, we thought you were already dead,” Ochako scratched the back of her head nervously. “I was the one who found you. It was horrible, I was using my gravity quirk to float above the forest for a better bird’s eye view and I just saw you tangled up in the branches like a doll.” She shook her head, tears in her eyes. 

“Thank you for finding me, Uraraka, I’m okay I promise.” Izuku pulled her into a half hug and patted her shoulder comfortingly. She nodded against his shoulder.

“I believe you, it was just really scary. I can’t believe you faced off with a dragon on your own and didn’t get torn into little ribbons.”

“Yeah... I can’t believe that either.”

Izuku then placed his hands down on either side of him and tried to sit up, his back numb from laying down for so long. His body was sore but nothing seemed too badly injured. He didn’t know what to think. Maybe the part about the dragon saving him was just a dream? Or maybe the dragon had some sort of quirk that made him see one thing when really he was actually experiencing another? Dragons were known to have quirks, a lower percentage of them did when compared to humans, only about 60% of them had powers but it was still common enough for it to be a possibility. He put weight on his hands to push himself up.

That is when he felt it. A slight shock of pain shot through his hand and a flash of an image of a large black wing briefly obscured his vision, causing Izuku to jump a little and look at the back of his hand.

“Is everything okay Deku?” Ochako asked him as a flash of worry crossed her face.

“Yeah, I’m alright my hand just felt strange for a second there.”

“What do you mean strange?”

“Um…”

Izuku didn’t know what to say as he turned his hand over to examine his palm. Ochako leaned over and gasped as she saw his hand from over Izuku’s shoulder.

“What the hell is that?” Ochako asked in alarm.

“I don’t know.”

Sitting on the side of his palm directly beneath his thumb on his right hand was a circular swirl shape that looked as if it had been engraved into his palm. The skin around the shape was raw and pink but Izuku didn’t believe that that was the source of the pain as the pain he had felt a moment ago felt deeper than that. Maybe he had been poisoned? Izuku tried not to panic at this sudden development and took some calming deep breaths.

“Would you like me to get you the doctor?” Ochako asked, her eyes shining with a mix of worry and fear.

“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.”

As if on cue, the door to the hospital room opened and the doctor walked in holding a clipboard and wearing a bright smile on his face. Izuku’s mother and Iida jolted awake at the sound of the heavy door shutting behind the doctor.

“Oh, sorry to wake you two! I just thought I would come and check on young Midoriya’s progress. It’s good to see you awake young man.” The doctor said turning to face Izuku.

“Izuku!”

“Midoriya! You’re awake.”

Iida and his mother stood up and moved on either side of him to get a better look at him.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better than I thought I would,” Izuku said with a sigh. “But my hand…”

The doctor said nothing when Izuku raised his hand and showed his palm to the people assembled. His mother gasped and Iida’s eyes widened but the doctor remained silent. Raising a hand to stroke his beard, the doctor hummed in thought and squinted his eyes at the strange marking.

“Does it hurt to touch it or apply pressure to it?”

“Yes, but not surface pain. Although it looks raw I don’t feel any pain when I touch my skin but when I apply too much pressure I feel a pain deep inside myself. I feel it in my bones and lungs rather than my hand. I also have been seeing some strange images when the pressure is applied.”

“Images?” The doctor asked as he scribbled some notes on a notepad.

“Yeah, like memories that are not mine.”

The doctor nodded and finished his writing before he spoke again.

“Alright young Midoriya, thank you for telling me this information. I want to help you but it is not my area of expertise so I am recommending you to a friend of mine who specializes in animal quirk related injuries. I don’t know if that is what this is but she has worked with dragons before and may be able to help you.”

“Thank you so much, Doctor,” Izuku’s mother said, her eyes watering. She leaned forward and held both of her son’s hands in hers. “I want to get this figured out as soon as possible and I want to find the dragon that did this to my son so that it can pay for what it has done to him.”

Izuku knew she was just being protective and that she didn’t actually mean any harm to the dragon but even so, for some reason, he felt a slight rise of panic in his chest at the thought of the dragon being slain.

“Young Midoriya, did you see what kind of dragon it was? If I knew that then I may be able to better determine what kind of damage was done to your body.”

Izuku thought for a moment. He could not remember much but the image of the sleek black dragon with a panther-like face and a wolf-shaped body that was covered in wounds seemed to be permanently burned into his brain. That image triggered a little bit of his memory as he thought about it, and he remembered what a man had said out of the fog swamping his mind. 

“I think it was a dragon called a Night Fury,” Izuku said.

The reaction was like that of a bomb going off in the room. The doctor gasped and tripped backward into some medical supplies, sending them crashing to the floor. Inko Midoriya shrieked and launched at her son, enfolding him into a rib-crushing hug. Iida’s jaw dropped and he called out Izuku’s name in shock. Ochako and Izuku were the only ones who did not understand the reaction of the others.

“Are you sure Midoriya?”

“Yes, why? Why is that so hard to believe?”

The doctor rubbed his face and took a deep breath.

“Because never in the history of the existence of humans, quirk or no quirk, has anyone ever survived an attack from a Night Fury. Not much is known about those dragons, only that they are vicious, bloodthirsty, extremely intelligent, and powerful. They never steal food, never show themselves and they never miss.”


	3. Lovely Oddities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s 2:00 in the morning, I am listening to the Harry Potter soundtrack and I have work tomorrow morning but when you feel like writing you can’t stop until you finish. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter! The chapters after this will start to get more interesting, I’m sorry that chapters 2 & 3 are kind of more exposition but I wanted to make this story as well developed as possible! Have a great day everyone! I love all of the comments everyone is leaving, thank you so much! I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter!

Izuku and his mother walked along a wooded gravel drive leading to a nice log cabin that was tucked neatly into the embrace of the surrounding trees. The sun was warm and bright, its rays shining through the tree leaves in a way that left little dapples all over the small pebbles on the driveway. The pair walked in silence up to the house, a slight bit of tension hanging between them, a mix of fear and worry about the other person. Ever since the visit to the hospital, Inko Midoriya had been extra protective of her son, calling or texting him all the time and staying up late at night, unable to fall asleep with the fear of a dragon sneaking in to steal her boy away. Izuku had started to worry about her almost as much as she worried about him. The lack of sleep and the stress of the anxiety from the attack was starting to have a negative impact on her health. Izuku glanced at his mother as they walked, the rocks crunching beneath their shoes, and let out a sigh.

“Mom I really am okay. I know you are worried and I understand why, you have every right to be, but I’m worried about you now. You look too tired,” Izuku draped one arm around his mother’s shoulder.

“I know that sweetie, the doctor would not have cleared you if you had not been physically and mentally stable with the current situation but I can’t help being anxious! Sometimes I just forget how dangerous the world really is and when you almost lose someone you love…” She wrapped one of her arms around Izuku’s shoulders and pulled him closer to him, their legs almost tangling as they continued to walk down the winding path.

“Well, hopefully, this therapist can settle both of our anxieties, that way you won’t have to worry so much. Neither of us will have to,” Izuku said, gesturing to the cabin.

“Me too, Izuku. Me too…”

They finally reached the end of the drive and knocked on a pair of beautifully handcrafted walnut doors, breaking apart from each other but still holding each other’s hands. To their surprise, the door flew open just a few short seconds after they had knocked, almost as if the resident of the house had been standing at the entrance to wait for them to arrive.

“Welcome to my home!”

To say that she looked odd was a little bit of an understatement. The woman standing at the entrance of her cabin was taller than both of the Midoriyas with long ivory hair that had been fashioned into one fishtail braid going down the back. Her eyes were a pretty deep brown and her skin was an even mix of pale and a light brush of a spring tan. It was what she was wearing that caught the Midoriyas by surprise. The woman was wearing a set of ashen combat leathers that complimented her hair with a slight gray contrast between the two. At the waist of her gray pants was a black leather belt that held an assortment of items such as a dead fish, a hammer, a shield, and a strange-looking green root. Her hands were covered by heavy black gloves and around her neck, she wore a necklace of small bones. Despite this, the strangest part about her appearance was not the necklace of bones or strange combat gear but the large white and gray eagle that sat on her shoulder. Not waiting for an introduction from the pair of startled guests, the woman stepped to the side and gestured them inside with a bright smile on her face. 

“Please feel free to make yourselves at home here, I’ve got tea on the stove right now that will be ready in just a few minutes,” the woman followed them into the living room before departing into the kitchen. She came back a moment later holding a small tray of tea and some baked treats. She bent down and placed the tray on a wooden handcrafted table and the eagle on her shoulder took off silently, landing on a landing post on the other side of the room.

“Did you find the place okay?”

“Yeah it was no problem,” Inko replied.

“Very good! My name is Haruka and I am here today to look over one of the few injuries my friend at the hospital wasn’t able to properly diagnose, is that correct?”

“Yeah that’s right,” Izuku said, looking around at the surprisingly neat and pretty interior decor. 

“Alright, what’s your name? Izuku, right?”

Izuku nodded.

“Okay Izuku, give me a rundown of how you’ve been feeling and then we will take a look at the injury shall we?”

“Sure!” Izuku thought for a moment. “I don’t really feel any pain in my hand anymore but I feel pain everywhere else. It is a really dull pain, to the point of me almost being able to ignore it but it is still there. It flares up sometimes though, I just feel pain everywhere in my body. It wakes me up at night sometimes. I have also been having these really weird dreams where I am in the dragon’s body, the one that attacked me as if I am living in the dragon’s life and all of the dreams are always full of terrible pain and horror.”

Haruka nodded and wrote some things down on a notepad she had pulled out of a hidden pocket of hers. 

“Any other issues or symptoms?”

“Well… yes actually. I feel like my senses have been heightened. Even just walking to your house today, I felt comfortable under the trees even though a forest is where I was attacked. I feel like my sense of smell and sight has been magnified, my hearing too so that I can experience things a split second before my friends and family do.”

Haruka looked up at him for a moment, her eyes meeting his before she dropped her gaze and continued to scribble some things down.

“Thank you Izuku that was very helpful! Are you comfortable with showing me your hand where the injury is?”

Izuku nodded and held up his hand. His other hand shook as he reached over to pull off the glove he had been wearing to cover the mark, his nerves suddenly skyrocketing. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, he felt like he was revealing a part of himself that he shouldn’t, like taking off all of his clothes in public. Even so, he swallowed the strange feeling and ripped off the glove, turning his palm around so that Haruka could take a look. Haruka studied his hand for a moment, even taking it in her hands and feeling it with her surprisingly soft fingers. The eagle on the stand nearby ruffled its feathers and cawed, shaking its head and prancing in place before finally settling once more.

“Alright, Izuku can I be straight forward with you?”

Izuku nodded.

“And Mrs. Midoriya can I also be straight with you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay good,” Haruka took a deep breath and looked at them both in the eyes. “It is a brand, young Midoriya. It happens sometimes when a dragon is in serious danger and it needs to escape a situation fast but also doesn’t want to lose something that it wants or needs. My doctor friend told me that you thought this dragon was a Night Fury? Those dragons are renowned for their intense intelligence which means that the dragon that attacked you could have very easily decided to save you for a later meal by marking you so that it could find you again.”

Inko Midoriya gasped and Izuku felt all of the blood rush out of his head leaving his face a pale and sweaty mess.

“W-What?”

“Don’t panic young Midoriya. I know it is scary but don’t worry, the brand doesn’t last forever and the dragon will soon lose interest. Also, if it is a Night Fury, that thing will be hunted from every corner of the earth and will have no ability to get anywhere near the city,” Haruka sat back with a sigh and scratched her neck. “Even so, I want you to be very careful. Don’t go walking alone at night, stay with friends and family during the day, and never let your guard down. As I said, you should be fine but your safety is as much my priority as it is your mother’s so I want to make sure you know every precaution before you leave here, alright?”

“Alright. Thank you so much or your help.”

“It was no problem at all young Midoriya, and while you are out living your life, I will order a new type of medication for you that will help you get rid of the brand faster alright? It should also get rid of the weird dreams and constant pain.” 

“Thanks again,” Inko Midoriya said, tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. “We will see you in a few weeks.”

“I look forward to it!” Even the eagle cawed at them as the pair walked out of the cute but strange little cabin and into the forest.


	4. Hidden Treasures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great day! I took a long time to write this chapter, deleting and rewriting it because I didn't like the way I wrote it the first time... and the second time... and the third time... but I am happy with it now! I know I say this a lot but thank you for showing so much love and support, reading your comments whether they are compliments or constructive criticism just brightens my day because it shows me that people actually care about my stories. I really appreciate that! This chapter is a really long one and I expect the next chapter will as well but I think they will be fun to read! This chapter is almost entirely about my OCs so sorry if you are not really into that, it was necessary for the plot development. Anyways, the next chapter will get back on track but in the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy this one!

As soon as the Midoryas left her home, Haruka immediately jumped into the air with her fist raised excitedly. She felt like a giddy school girl again, adrenaline coursing through her veins and happiness forcing her to smile the widest she had smiled in a long time. Her doctor friend had indeed told her that the dragon that had attacked Izuku was thought to be a Night Fury but she hadn’t dared to believe it, they were just too rare, never seen and constantly moving at speeds faster than that of sound. She had worked with a lot of dragons but she had never ever seen a Night Fury before. She whirled around, the tea and treats forgotten on the coffee table and rushed for her office. Her eagle raised his wings and flew after her, swerving around the corner and landing on her desk beside her laptop. 

Haruka leaned down and opened up one of her drawers, moving all of the papers and pens out of the way until she reached the bottom. Once she reached the bottom of the drawer she reached her fingers around the corner and pulled up, revealing a hidden compartment. She smiled as she pulled out a bow along with her phone and a quiver of arrows. She closed the drawer and stood up, moving to the shelf that lined the wall of her office. Her eagle ruffled his feathers and followed Haruka’s line of sight as she scanned the shelf. After a minute, the eagle cawed and flew over to the shelf, reaching a talon to point at a glass bottle that was filled with a pale green liquid. Haruka smiled at the eagle and plucked the bottle from the shelf, slipping it into one of the little pockets in her robe. 

“Nice work Cassian! Are you ready to go?” The eagle cawed again and took off, following Haruka back through the living room and out into the backyard. Haruka’s backyard was a large spanning meadow that flowed into a forest at the back. Haruka strode through the tall grass of her meadow, Cassian coasting beside her until they entered the calming clutches of the dark forest. 

_______________________________________________

Hours passed and although they had not found anything, Haruka never lost hope. She glanced up through the trees and watched as Cassian flew above her, scanning the forest floor for their prize. Haruka glanced back down at the ground and moved her way through the foliage, her eyes watching for any sign that the dragon had crossed through the area. Suddenly, Cassian dove down toward the ground in a sharp decline. Haruka paused and stood still, waiting for him to return. It was at least half an hour before the bird rose back into the sky and shot toward her, his wings beating the air frantically. The eagle landed on the forest floor and tilted his head to look more directly at Haruka. After a second of catching his breath, Cassian nodded to Haruka. The eccentric woman then leaned back and glanced around them, one hand resting on the pommel of her sword, making sure that nobody was around. After she was one hundred percent sure that nobody was around, she nodded slightly to Cassian. She then picked up her phone and called a friend. The phone only got through the first ring before someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Emiko! It’s Haruka, Cassian has found something, can you please come over here and use your quirk on him?”

“Sure thing, where are you? I am over by the river that we passed a little while ago.”

“Perfect, I can meet you over there.”

Haruka then beckoned to Cassian who took off once more for the river. It only took a few minutes for the pair to reach Emiko, a friend of Haruka’s who was a fan of adventure and enjoyed helping Haruka with her odd jobs. Emiko looked up as they pushed through the brush and smiled at them, wiping the sweat off of her brow. Haruka trotted up to Emiko and Cassian landed on the ground beside them, his mouth open as he caught his breath. Emiko looked down at him and smiled at the old bird.

“Hello again, Cassian! Are you ready?” Emiko leaned back and stretched her arms above her head, sighing as a satisfying pop sounded from in between her shoulder blades. The bird nodded and stood up tall as Emiko leaned down with her palm out, her fingers glowing a faint yellow. Haruka smiled as she watched them, her mind flooding with the sweet memories of when she had met Emiko in middle school when she had accidentally turned Haruka into a lizard during lunch. It was after this incident that Haruka had learned that Emiko’s quirk was the ability to hide the true form of things by turning them into animals or objects with her fingers. Even so, they had become good friends with a taste for adventure and a love for all living things. 

Now, Emiko pressed her fingers to Cassian’s side, careful not to damage his beautiful wings and stepped back after the glow had dimmed from her fingers. Her quirk took a moment to take effect as Cassian’s body began to change, his feathers falling off to be replaced with a hard exterior and his beak changing into a snout all while his body was growing into a size much larger than that of a bird. The two women stepped back to admire their work as the creature standing before them stretched his lavish wings and blinked his eyes as he grew reaccustomed to the world around him. 

The Boneknapper dragon then shook himself, the bones that covered his body like armor clacking together until he settled back down, leaning down to look at the women properly. Haruka smiled and placed a hand on the front of his nose where a swirly mark lay. Once her hand met with the mark on his muzzle, both her hand and his snout began to glow with a soft blue hue. They broke apart after a minute and looked at each other lovingly before Haruka walked around to his flank where she placed her foot in the indention of one of the bones covering his back leg to hoist herself up onto his back. Emiko dug through her own leather bag and pulled out a small book. Raising her hand and allowing her fingertips to glow with the power of her quirk, she touched the book until it had reformed back into its normal shape, which was that of a dragon saddle. Once the saddle had reshaped in her arms, she threw it to Haruka who caught it and situated it on top of the Boneknapper’s back near the base of the neck so that the bones that protruded from that spot would not stab right through her. Once she was settled in the saddle she reached a hand out for Emiko and helped her up.

“Ready?” Haruka asked.

“Ready.”

Haruka patted her dragon’s neck and he raised his wings high into the air, his bones rattling together. Finally, he forced his mighty wings down as hard as he could and they were shot into the air. Cassian flew right into the clouds so as to avoid being seen by other people and Haruka pulled a long microscope-looking object out of her bag, leaning over her dragon’s side until it poked out from just underneath the clouds. Looking down into the forest below, she reached forward and placed her hand on the back of her dragon’s head, her hand starting to glow again. 

“Tell me when you find it again, Cassian,” Haruka said, using the power from her hand to allow Cassian to see what she was seeing. The dragon sighed and his eyes darted around as he too looked down at the forest floor despite being above the clouds. This was how they had avoided detection for all of these years. They had been flying for a long time when Cassian suddenly perked up with a growl. Haruka looked to the left and saw it too. She patted him again and he tilted his wings so that they were then aiming for the ground once more. They landed softly in the center of a clearing. The wind swayed the grass and ruffled the water but it also carried the strong scent of blood with it. Haruka and Emiko pulled their shirts over their noses as the smell attacked their senses with the full force of a truck hitting a steel beam at full speed. Haruka’s eyes watered but she pushed past it and looked around the bloody clearing. 

“Stay close, both of you,” Haruka said, looking back at both of her best friends. Emiko nodded and Cassian purred softly before sniffing the air and walking around. Despite the immense amount of blood in the clearing, there were no bodies which meant that either the dragon didn’t kill anyone or someone had removed all of the bodies. Haruka hoped it was the first option but really had no idea as she too started to walk around. Emiko took to the perimeter of the clearing while Haruka went to the center of the clearing to where the largest puddle of blood in the whole field sat. She knew this was dragon’s blood due to the fact that if any person had lost this much blood they would’ve been dead two times over.

Haruka leaned down and pressed her fingers into the mess to find that the blood was old. She saw a trail of blood leading a little ways away from the spot in three different directions and felt each one, her fingers running along the grass tips until they had developed a red tinge. She finally got to the third trail of blood that had branched off from the main puddle. It seemed like the weakest trail of blood and was barely visible as tufts of grass covered the path but Haruka ran her fingers over it gingerly anyway. She froze as her fingers came back slick and red. This blood was fresh. Haruka frantically looked around, her eyes roving over every crevice and ditch in the clearing, her ears alert and her skin tingling with nerves. 

“Uh… Haruka?”

“Yeah?”

“I think that is what you are looking for.” 

Haruka glanced at Emiko to see her staring up into a tree directly above them. Haruka gulped and slowly looked up to see the Night Fury looking down at them, its mouth split into a snarl, its eyes gleaming and its torn wings opened wide.

Haruka couldn’t find the strength to scream or move as the beast leaped down from the tree. The only thing stopping the dragon from landing directly on top of her was Cassian, who jumped over the river and batted Haruka out of the way with his giant paws. She landed a little rough on the ground but didn’t care, the adrenaline running through her veins masking the slight pain so that she didn’t even notice. 

“Cassian!” Haruka cried out as the Night Fury roared at the Boneknapper, its teeth bared and its silver claws flexing into the dirt so that it left long ruts on the forest floor. It snapped open its wings wider as it snarled at Cassian, hoping to appear larger and more intimidating. Cassian was much larger than the Night Fury but Haruka knew better, her dragon would be no match for the offspring of lightning and death itself. With its wings wide open, Haruka could see the large slashes that covered the sensitive membranes all over and saw the blood seep slowly from its body whenever it moved. She knew why the dragon was attacking but she wanted some way to show that they would not harm it. She was about to say something along those lines to Emiko and Cassian when the Night Fury launched at her dragon from the left before ducking down and leaping onto his back from the right. Cassian yelped and whipped around, hitting his flank on a nearby tree to try to shake off the Night Fury. 

Haruka only saw red as her dragon yelped again. She loved dragons and didn’t want to hurt this dragon, especially since it was a Night Fury but she couldn’t hold back anymore. With an angry yell, she focused on the dragon’s right front leg and used all of her brainpower to activate her quirk. She felt her quirk activate with the tiniest clicking sound in her mind and she tilted her head to the left with a swift jerk. Within the seconds she heard the sound of a bone snapping and the Night Fury let out a howl of pain, falling off of Cassian. Cassian went to pounce on the dragon but Haruka stopped him with a sharp shout.

The Night Fury looked at her in anger and blinding white horror as Haruka approached it, its wings flailing as it tried to sit up. It let out a strangled cry when it felt someone’s hand press against its flank. Haruka looked up at Emiko in shock as the other woman basically leaped onto the Night Fury and pressed her glowing fingers to its side, her breathing fast and rough as she tried to force the panic down. In less than a minute, the panicking beast had shrunk, its wings folding into themselves until they had disappeared, the dragon’s head shrinking and changing, and its body compacting and growing into soft, fluffy fur. Once the transformation was over, the Night Fury managed to shakily stand up on its three non-damaged legs and shake a little bit, its midnight black fur flowing with the movement. The dragon had been transformed into a big black dog with pointed ears, bright eyes, and a fluffy tail. It looked like a German Shepherd but it definitely didn’t act like one. The dog looked around, its eyes dilating and narrowing as it got used to the different eyesight. It shook its head and let out a severe snarl that didn’t even sound canine. 

After a few moments of getting used to its new body, the dog looked up at the two women and the now huge Boneknapper dragon and pinned its ears in fear. It barked at them and bared its teeth as it backed away slowly into the foliage at the edge of the clearing. 

“Easy, easy now, don’t worry, we won’t hurt you,” Haruka said, holding one hand out warmly, the other hand, holding her bow and an arrow between two fingers, the tip of the arrow glistening with the pale green liquid from the bottle in her pocket.

She didn’t expect the creature to believe her after what they had done to it but she just needed to stall it until they could trap it. She motioned ever so slightly to Emiko who was about to throw the net they had prepared for the Night Fury’s capture when the beast snarled at them once more and galloped away, nearly falling over on it’s injured legs but still managing to move fast enough to avoid capture. Without thinking, Haruka raised her bow and fired an arrow after the dog, wincing as she heard a yelp in the distance. 

“No, wait!” Emiko said with her hand held out as if to stop the already long gone dragon from leaving. The pair ran after the dog, their arms pumping and their breathing ragged as they tore after the beast. They only stopped when they stumbled upon the arrow that Haruka had fired on the forest floor, the tip gleaming with a hint of blood. Emiko hung her head.

“Haruka, I am so sorry, I didn’t throw the net when you asked me to and I turned it into a dog so now it is going to be impossible to find again. I am so sorry, I messed up everything!” 

Haruka placed a hand on her shoulder and Emiko looked up, her eyes shining with the beginning of new tears.

“You didn’t ruin anything, Emiko, in fact, you have made this situation so much better for us. I know exactly were that dragon is going, and now dragon hunters won’t have a clue how to find it. As an added bonus, the Night Fury may have shaken off my arrow but I still hit it, that dragon will be asleep in no time. We will see that dragon again, don’t you worry.”

Emiko gave Haruka a hug and smiled into her neck. She sniffled and leaned back to wipe her eyes clear.

“Thanks, Haru, but how do you know where the Night Fury is going?”

“Because it is going to the only place it can go, to the place where it can be understood and taken care of. Follow me, I will show you.”


	5. The Black Dog

In the weeks that followed his therapist visit, Izuku could feel himself starting to heal from the traumatic ordeal. His medication had arrived from Haruka and it was working very well, forcing down the pain in his body and erasing the strange dreams that plagued his sleep. The brand still remained on his hand and it was showing no signs of fading but he was willing to take what he could get at the moment. The school days got easier as his friends finally stopped asking him to relive the attack and the whispers of the other class students fell away into nothingness. But even as training started to take his mind off of things, even as his life began to reform into one of a comforting routine, Izuku could never shake off the thoughts about that dragon. 

Izuku groaned and ran a hand through his hair, rereading the word problem on his math homework for the fifth time in a row and leaned back in his chair. He wanted to be able to focus and just get it done, it wasn’t that difficult, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. The memory replayed in his mind again, his brain bringing him back to that bloody meadow with the scary men and the terrifying yet beautiful dragon. Izuku growled in frustration. That was the thing! He wanted to fear and hate the dragon. He wanted to conform to normality and say that the dragon had taken him as an evening snack, but he felt in the back of his mind that that was simply not true. He tried to think back to the memory once more but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t remember what had happened after the men had charged them.

With a defeated sigh, Izuku closed his textbook and folded his homework away, preparing to complete it in the morning, and reached into his bag for an old book he had picked up at the library that day. He had already read it, and many others like it, but maybe he had missed something. The book was a book on strike class dragons, describing their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and most common quirks which could be affected by anything from their environment, to their food, to their mating patterns. Izuku opened it and flipped once more to the single page on the Night Fury that was available. All of the dragons in the book had been studied meticulously so that there were pages and pages of information about each one such as how to survive an attack from each species and who to call if one is spotted near you. The Night Fury, however, had information that barely even took up half a page and while the other dragon pages contained highly detailed photos and graphics of each species, the Night Fury just had a question mark in the center of the page with vague facts about the dragon around it. 

Izuku knew that it was helpless but flipped through the book anyway, rereading all of the facts about the Night Fury with critical eyes. All of the facts were vague and uninteresting as if the author of the book had been too lazy to find anything more than random facts online about the beast. Izuku knew this wasn’t the case as every book he had read on the Night Fury had come up with the same results but he still felt frustrated and unsatisfied. After almost an hour of reading through every single detail, Izuku tossed the book over his head where it landed on a pile of other pointless dragon books. His hands were shaking and he ran them through his green hair again. He was desperate for answers but he couldn’t find anything.  
“Izuku! Come out for dinner honey!” His mother’s voice snapped him out of his feverish reverie and he was able to take a deep breath before replying.

“Coming mom!” Glancing once more at the pile of books on his floor, Izuku stood up to go eat.

________________________________

Izuku came home from school and threw his backpack onto the couch with a groan. He felt so tired but also so restless as if he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being watched and tracked. He supposed that he was technically being hunted by a bloodthirsty dragon but this somehow felt different. He felt as if he was experiencing severe anxiety but from a distant place, as if he were feeling the stress of another person. Letting out a distressed sigh, Izuku slumped over to the couch and dragged his bag toward him, opening it up to grab the new dragon book that he had picked up at the library that day. He didn’t really expect it to help very much but he had to do something. He was so damn sick of sitting around, doing nothing.

Little did he know, his mother was watching him from around the corner in their kitchen, her worry growing as she saw his nervous behavior and the book he had pulled out of his bag. She wanted to help him so badly but felt as if she could only watch him struggle from afar, forced to watch him sink deeper and deeper under the sands of anxiety and paranoia. She stood up straighter as she realized he had started to shake and set her face into a determined smile as she rounded the corner, growing desperate to help him.

“Izuku?”

“Oh, Mom! Sorry, I didn’t know you were there, what can I help you with?” He closed his book and slid it under his leg to obscure the title and looked up at her with a pretty convincing smile on his face. But she knew better, he was her son. She placed a hand on his shoulder before leaning in to give him a hug.

“I know you have been struggling, so why don’t we eat dinner early tonight and go out for some dessert treats tonight? I have to run to the store to get some more medical supplies anyway since we have used most of our stock on your more recent injuries.”

Inko saw shock feather lightly in her son’s eyes but then they brightened and he smiled genuinely for the first time in weeks.

“That sounds really nice, Mom, thank you.”

“Anything to make you feel better, sweetie.”

After eating and making a small list of the supplies they would need, the pair left the house and walked out together down the sidewalk towards town. It was a little bit of a far walk but it wasn’t anything too rigorous and Izuku enjoyed the quiet company he had with his mother as they walked. They went out and got some Taiyaki before heading to the pharmacy to pick up some of the more basic medical materials such as gauze and bandages and disinfectant. They left the store and headed back toward their home just as the sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon, casting the sky into shades of pale violet, radiant orange, glossy red, and pastel pink. Izuku felt the most relaxed than he had in weeks, the violent memories of the dragon attack fading away into blurry afterthoughts that barely registered as a dull buzz in his mind. He and his mother laughed together and walked with their arms around one another as the sun began to dip beneath the roofs of houses, the last rays clinging to the edges of the buildings with golden fingertips. The pair were almost to their home when the rustling of bushes caught their attention. Izuku felt his mother tighten her grip on his shoulders and she moved forward a little bit as if to protect her son from any threat that may come their way. The rustling got louder and closer, until the branches of the bushes right beside them parted.

A piece of the deepening night limped out of the bushes, its eyes, dull with pain. It was a black dog. Izuku and his mother stopped walking as the creature stumbled out in front of them, its head, turning just slightly to look at them clearly. As the light around them was beginning to seep away, it was hard for them to tell exactly what was wrong with the dog, but no matter how dark it got, they could easily tell that the poor beast was horribly messed up. It looked to be a German Shepherd of some kind as it was of lean but muscular build and had pointed ears but its fur was a velvety midnight black. 

“Izuku, stay behind me,” Inko stepped even further in front of her son and place an arm in front of him like a bar so as to barricade him from moving any further. She had no idea who’s dog this was or why it looked like it had just come back from surviving the apocalypse but she also didn’t know if it was friendly or not and she did not need her son to live through another animal attack. The dog looked up at her, its eyes glazed in pain before suddenly collapsing to the ground. Inko and Izuku were too stunned to move for a moment but after a little while, Izuku stepped past his mother’s arm and bent down near the dog. 

“Izuku-”

Izuku held up his hand slightly and glanced at his mother, the corners of his mouth twitching upward slightly in a comforting smile. He hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on the dog’s flank. He felt the feather-light rise and fall of its chest. He turned back to his mother and took a deep breath.

“Let’s take it back home with us,” Izuku said. His mother looked momentarily horrified so he pressed on quickly.

“Come on, the only nearby veterinarian’s office is almost thirty minutes away and it is probably already closed and if we leave it here, it will die. I don’t think it will try to hurt us if we help it survive,” Izuku turned back to the dog. “Please, I need something like this, to help someone in need.”

Inko still hesitated but after another quick moment of thought and a glance at her son, who was still staring at the dog that lay panting softly on the road, she let out a sigh and nodded to him. Izuku brightened up a little bit and leaned down to wrap his arms around its back behind the shoulders and under its belly, in front of its back legs. 

“Have you got that sweetie or would you like some help?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Izuku said, hoisting the dog up into the air and starting to walk. His mother trotted up from behind him and only slowed when she was right beside her son.

“It's a good thing we bought new medical supplies,” Inko mumbled softly, looking up at the now black sky, watching the stars twinkle and wink above her like shattered diamonds in a black sea.

____________________________________________

It was around 3 am when the dog finally woke up, the unfamiliar surroundings, the sharp scent of fabric softener, the darkness all around it causing the dog to snap its head up in alarm and growl into the darkness, fear causing its heart to pound. 

The growling woke Izuku immediately despite the fact that the sound was soft and almost inaudible. He shot up in his bed and swung his legs off the side, walking backward until he hit the wall with his back, his hands up in the air. He paused, and then placed one of his palms on the wall and felt around until he felt the switch and flicked on the lights. The sudden brightness in the room partially blinded the dog and caused it to growl again, Izuku tensed and didn’t move. 

When Izuku and his mother had arrived in their home with the injured dog, they had worked for several hours to disinfect and wrap up its wounds with the supplies they had on hand. They were ready to take it to the vet and then to a shelter in the morning but they knew they couldn’t just leave it to sleep like it was, with gashes all over its body and what even looked like a mark from an arrow or knife in its side. The dog had been knocked out the entire time, which they had been a little grateful for, as they had given it a bath and rubbed medication and bandages all over the wounds. Once they had finished as much as they could, Inko had used old blankets and pillows to make a little bed for it on the floor beside Izuku’s bed. She had originally not wanted the dog anywhere near her son but as it had still been knocked out, and after Izuku had pestered her for an hour, she had finally given up with the promise that he would call her in if anything went wrong.

Finally, the dog seemed to get used to the light and glanced around the room, its eyes wide and almost calculating. While it was distracted, Izuku studied the dog, his own eyes roving over the bandages and black fur until their eyes inevitably locked on one another. Despite the fact that this was a dog, Izuku felt as if he couldn’t tear his gaze away from those eyes, they seemed so searingly familiar but it felt almost as if his brain was shoving down the memory, trying not to remember where he saw those eyes despite his curiosity. That’s when it hit him. There was only one memory that he had ever tried to shut out of his mind, the only thing traumatizing enough to make him want to forget. The memory burst past his mind’s efforts to block it and flooded his brain as if it had happened yesterday. Those eyes. Those eyes.

Izuku fought to keep his breathing steady, that was impossible, there was no way, a Night Fury was the rarest dragon in the world, it would have been captured by now. His body was shaking as he continued to stare at the dog, its eyes never leaving his. He remembered what the doctor had said at that moment, how Night Furies were renowned for their intense intelligence, sometimes even being able to learn and understand a human language. Could this dragon have possibly tracked him here using its own skills while also avoiding detection and capture? Was the dog transformation some kind of quirk or was he just going crazy and it was just a normal stray off of the streets? But the wounds, and the eyes, it just had to be that dragon.

The dog never broke eye contact but it didn’t attack him either, so Izuku slowly approached it with his left hand held out. The dog again did not react negatively, so he kept moving toward it, raising his right hand slowly, palm out. That was when the dog did something unexpected. It broke eye contact with Izuku and glanced at the mark on his right palm and wagged its tail. It was only two quick thumps and the dog froze with a growl, almost as if it were surprised by that reaction as well, but Izuku took that as a good sign. 

“I-I w-want to-” Izuku paused and cleared his throat, still moving forward slowly. “I want to help you, I don’t really know why b-but you d-did s-save me. I owe y-you now… j-just please don’t e-eat m-m-me.”

Izuku saw the dog’s eyes widen as he slowly kneeled down in front of it. Taking a deep breath, Izuku closed his eyes and held out his right hand, his brand glowing a deep ocean blue. The world suddenly seemed to melt away as he felt his hand touch the dog’s forehead, that same warm and cold feeling flowing into his palm until Izuku’s consciousness faded into darkness.


	6. The Right of Passage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for being gone for a little while, I was in Texas with a friend for the week and not only did the place I was going to not have any service what so ever, it was kind of nice to have a small break from writing for a bit. But I am back now with an extra-long chapter just for all of you guys! Enjoy!

Izuku’s consciousness faded into darkness and at first, he believed that he had fallen for the dragon’s trap and that this was his end. He felt his heart pound and unconsciously began counting the beats in his head, fearing that each one would be his last. Suddenly, the darkness around him exploded with light, a warm light that washed over him and wove its golden fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, unsure of where he even was. He knew he wasn’t in the bedroom anymore, well, maybe he was. Who knows? Maybe the dragon had a quirk that could change how his mind viewed the environment around him. He tried to get ahold of his breathing as the light around him wavered and bubbled, forming unrecognizable shapes that floated and morphed around him. Then, he recognized a shape, the shape of a tree. As he gazed around his peculiar surroundings, he found more recognizable objects. Izuku closed his eyes for a moment, reaching up to rub at his temples. 

Izuku opened his eyes and blinked in surprise. The light that had once been holding him suspended in the air was gone and had been replaced with the clearing in the forest where he had met the Night Fury. He looked up into the canopy of trees and raised a hand to block out the warm sun that was glaring down at him from between the leaves. A soft growl had Izuku whipping around to face behind him and his eyes widened fearfully once he saw the Night Fury, sitting in front of a large oak tree. Fear blinded Izuku at first but then he noticed that the dragon had changed, it was no longer hurt, its scales smooth and its wings full and untorn. Its paws were settled underneath itself and its tail was laying across them neatly. The dragon and Izuku stared at one another for a little while, those piercing eyes glowing and never leaving his face. Izuku gulped softly.

“Hello,” Izuku said.

The dragon tilted its head.

“Where are we?”

The dragon just blinked at him in response. Izuku placed his hands on the soft, spongy earth beneath him where he had fallen over after the light had disappeared and stood up slowly. He waited for the dragon to lunge at him, to bite at him or to even just growl at him but it didn’t do any of those things. It just watched him warily. Izuku dusted off his pants and made eye contact with the Night Fury again, still trying to wrap his head around where they were and why. The dragon remained still and after a few moments of thinking, he sighed and realized that there was only one way to get the answers he needed. Izuku took a deep breath and forced down all of the fear that was rearing up inside of him, threatening to burst through him, and walked up to the dragon with his head held high. The Night Fury’s eyes widened ever so slightly but it still did not react other than that. Finally, Izuku stood directly in front of the creature and stared up into those fierce-looking eyes as the beast lowered its head to look at Izuku properly.

“Um… hello, again, w-we may not know each other v-very well but I meant what I said back there, that I w-want to help you. I don’t know what you are after, or why you branded me, but I want to help you because I have the strangest feeling that there is more to it than just wanting to eat me.”

The Night Fury considered him for a moment, its eyes narrow and calculating until it finally relaxed a little bit and dipped its head, its eyes closing. Izuku felt his heart flutter a little bit at the rebelliousness of helping a dragon but also the happiness of possibly not dying today. 

“Well, first thing’s first, I need to get to know you a little bit, I want to research you.”

The dragon growled a little bit at the word ‘research’ and Izuku cringed slightly, clearing his throat and feeling his face go pale.

“I meant I want to learn more about you,” He corrected himself. “For starters, my name is Izuku Midoriya, but most of my friends call me Deku. I know you probably don’t understand Japenese, but I want you to get to know me as well.”

Izuku felt a little less anxious once he started talking. He knew that the dragon was familiar with certain words like ‘research’ but he had no idea how well-versed the dragon actually was in human language. Even so, he continued to talk as if he were having a normal conversation with a friend, hoping to convey through the emotions in his words that he meant no harm. 

“You don’t have a name so maybe I should give you one? I feel a little strange naming a dragon as if it were a pet but I don’t want to call you ‘The Dragon’ for the time being. I don’t even know if you know what a name is, to be fully honest so maybe it won’t matter?” Izuku eventually decided that choosing a name for it would help make the dragon seem less frightening and more like someone he could work with and so he started running through a list of possible names in his head.

“Flash? I’ve heard that Night Furies are one of the fastest dragons on the planet,” Izuku suggested. The dragon bared its teeth and Izuku flinched a little. “Alright, not Flash then.”

He thought for a long while, his eyes glued to the ground and his feet beginning to shuffle as he mumbled to himself. He looked up at the dragon.

“Salazar?”

“Grim?”

“Fang?”

“Azriel?”

“Montag?”

“Pyro?”

“Yoru?”

“Cerberus?”

Izuku knew he wasn’t the best with names but he was sure that at least one of those would have stuck. But he was wrong, the dragon rejected all of them, its eyes narrowing and its paws shuffling in impatience. Izuku glanced down and started mumbling again, ideas and thoughts running across his mind as he rushed to find a good name for the dragon. 

“How about-”

That’s when it hit him. 

“You’re female, aren’t you?”

The dragon watched him for a moment before dipping her head with her eyes closed once more, a soft purring sound coming from her throat.

Izuku felt a little shocked at first but then he smiled. No wonder she had been so agitated, he had only been suggesting male names! He placed his thumb and forefinger on his chin and thought some more. With this new development, it only took Izuku a few minutes before the perfect name drifted across his brain.

“What about Dakota?” He asked, his heart hammering. The Night Fury tilted her head as if she were thinking about it, tossing it around in her mind and tasting it on her tongue. After what seemed like both an eternity, the dragon leaned forward and placed her head against Izuku’s palm so that their symbols matched up. In no time, the forest scenery had disappeared and Izuku jolted awake to find himself on the floor of his bedroom, leaning against the black dog’s flank. She snarled at him and he shot up, scooting away until he was a healthy distance away. His body was shaking and his nerves were tingling but he managed to stand up and wobble over to the bed where he collapsed down onto his blankets and pillows. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized that only one minute had passed since he had placed his palm on her head. He still had no idea where he had gone or why and he wasn’t completely sure that he hadn’t gone crazy but he was happy to be back in his bedroom in one piece. Izuku took a shaky breath and leaned over to turn off the light.

“Goodnight, Dakota.”

The dog only responded with a soft sigh, but compared to the growls and snarls she had been giving him up until that point, Izuku was willing to go out on a limb and say that she didn’t mind the name.

_______________________________________

It was only three hours earlier when Izuku’s mother opened the door to Izuku’s room to check on him. She had barely slept that night and had eventually given up at 6:00 in the morning to settle her concerns. She peeked through the open door and saw her son fast asleep on his side, facing her. His mouth was open and he was snoring a little bit in a way that made Inko smile. She then looked at the make-shift dog bed on the floor to see the dog. The dog had woken up to the soft sound of the door opening and was watching Inko warily but her paws were tucked underneath her body and her ears remained pointed into the air rather than pinned back so although Inko sucked in a breath at the sight of the dog staring at her through the darkness she was able to calm herself. After glancing around one last time, she silently slipped the door closed and padded back to her bedroom to try to get some sleep.

Even though Inko had peeked in at 6:00 am, Izuku did not wake up until almost 10:00 am, his body groaning at him as he sat up as if he had just run six miles. He sighed and placed a hand on his forehead, trying to get his tired, jumbled thoughts in order. It was when he was yawning when the memories of the strange experience with the dog from last night came flooding back causing him to pause mid-yawn and widen his eyes. He closed his mouth and leaned over the bed to look down at the dog, who he saw was fast asleep. Her head was resting on the edge of a pillow while her paws were tucked neatly underneath her body so that she resembled a large black croissant. Her tail was wrapped around her body and her ears were flicking a little in her sleep. As Izuku watched, he concluded that she was almost cute. Terrifying and the offspring of nightmares and death, but cute. 

She must have felt his stare because she eventually opened her eyes a little and glanced up at him. Izuku quickly backed away from the end of his bed and waited, his breathing quickening slightly as if he had almost fallen off of a high edge. The dog stretched a little and yawned before trying to stand up. She may have acted brave and fought through the pain in the forest clearing but now that she had gotten some rest and all of the adrenaline was gone, as soon as she put weight on one leg she was a yelping mess. Izuku didn’t even hesitate to jump over the side of the bed and rush to her side, his brain not even processing the fact that he was going near the most dangerous animal on the planet. He crossed the room in a matter of seconds and met her on the floor, his hands automatically shooting out to stabilize her as she swayed in place and collapsed back into the dog bed. Once she was stable, she sighed along with Izuku before the pair suddenly realized how close he was to her. She snarled at him with a loud guttural sound that resonated through him in a way that struck him like lightning and he leaped away with the speed of a rabbit outrunning a fox. The dog glared at him with her teeth bared and her ears pinned flat to her head but she didn’t move, either because she was too tired or too injured too, but Izuku remained far away from her, afraid that she wouldn’t hesitate to lash out despite her crippling injuries.

“Sorry… I just wanted to h-help you.” Izuku said shakily, the flash adrenaline rush making him feel dizzy.

The dog finally relaxed after a few minutes, she allowed the fur on her scruff to lay flat once more and her lips lowered back over her sharp, pearly fangs. She yawned and moved her head so that it was resting back over her front paws and began to her eyes to close slowly. Izuku saw that her eyes were closed but he had no doubt in his mind that she was listening intently for him to move to harm her and so he stood as slowly as possible and opened his bedroom door to find something for the both of them to eat.

It wasn’t until he had entered the kitchen that he was able to fully relax and think about the situation. He knew he had a strange compulsion to help the dragon despite how dangerous she was but he also knew that she was scared and hungry and injured. He took a deep breath and marched around the corner to find his mother sipping at a steaming cup of tea and staring off into space. She had dark circles under her eyes and her fingers were quietly tapping on the side of the mug.

“Mom?”

“Oh, Izuku!” Inko jumped in her seat and looked up at her son with a tired smile. 

“How did you sleep?”

“Pretty well,” Izuku lied with a tense shrug. He knew that his mother could see through the veiled lie but she nodded and let it slide, going back to sipping her tea as he dug around for some breakfast for both him and Dakota. He froze as he opened the door to the fridge. What do dragons eat? He knew that they loved meat and most were definitely willing to pick off anything from a sheep to a human but he really didn’t know if they had preferences to specific meat or if they couldn’t eat something in particular. Finally, after digging around in the fridge for a little bit, he found some frozen waffles for himself and a three cold burger patties for Dakota, all of which he heated up before placing it on a plate to bring to her. He gave his mother a quick morning hug on his way back to his room, his concern for her health helping to clear up some of his own exhaustion, and then headed back to his bedroom, his hands shaking as they reached for the door handle.

Upon opening the door Izuku half expected the dog to be waiting for him with bared teeth and a snarl but he found her curled up in her bed, her ears drooping and her paws crossed. Her eyes shot to him as he opened the door and slipped inside but she seemed almost too tired to move. Izuku walked as slowly and non-threateningly as possible, ready to bolt for the door should she try to make a move and placed his plate on the bed. He then crouched down until he was low enough to slide the plate with the beef on it to her. She growled at him as he lowered himself onto the ground beside her but did not move or bare her teeth, her eyes following every movement of the plate in front of her. 

“Easy girl, I won’t hurt you, this is something that will help you feel better I promise,” Izuku said, forcing his voice to remain steady as he pushed his hand even closer to her. Finally, he gave one last small push and pulled his hand away, the anxiety of losing a hand making his skin buzz with fear. Dakota watched him out of the corner of her eye as she leaned over the side of the bed, her body shifting to compromise for the added weight to her front legs and sniffed the meat. Her body stiffened at the pain of moving and putting a tiny amount of weight on her broken paw but she continued to examine the meat. Her eyes never leaving Izuku’s, Dakota suddenly snapped up the meat, the movement so fast that Izuku almost missed it. It sent a shiver down his spine thinking of the idea that that could have been his hand. After she had finished the first burger patty, she wolfed down the other two, licking her lips and smelling the air for more. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anymore,” Izuku said as he slowly rose to his knees and crept back to slide up onto his bed, the smell of his own breakfast bringing him away from those snapping quicksilver fangs. The dog growled at him and pinned her ears again before turning away from him in disappointment. The pouty-like movement almost made Izuku chuckle but he kept it to himself as he ate, his mind lost in his plans for when his day off from school ended. He glanced at Dakota once more and felt the beginnings of a smile tug at the corner of his lips. He was slowly getting there, baby steps toward her heavily locked up personality.


	7. Living with a Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm back! Sorry I've been gone for a while, work has been crazy and school has started back up again so I haven't had time to write the latest chapter until now! Now, as this is my senior year of high school I have chosen a lot easier classes than in the past few years so as to have a more chill year but I will still be busy. In order to get all of my work done and keep my high grades, I've decided that my official posting day will be on Saturday's! I may extend that to Saturday's and Wednesday's if things go smoothly but for right now I post once a week! Thank you to all of my readers who have stuck with this story, I know it is kind of crazy right now but I am working on organizing it more in future chapters so don't worry, explanations and plots are coming soon! Welcome to any and all new readers, I am very excited to see people enjoying my stories so thank you so much for giving me the motivation and the courage to write and post my work! Sorry that these past few chapters have been a little slow and confusing, I will try to add more things in the next chapter for y'all! Thanks for reading this long tangent, until next time! I love all of you!

Once school started up again, things got harder. Izuku was determined to keep Dakota a secret until he figured out what to do with her, but at the same time, he was aware of the fact that each day was one step closer to her wounds healing completely. The thought made him suppress a shiver as he wandered down the halls, the hustle and bustle of the students creating a dull roar in the building that allowed Izuku to drown out all other thoughts. He made his way carefully to the lunchroom, his mind was just vaguely aware of Iida and Ochako who were chatting idly beside him. His eyes scanned the mass of students in front of him and he suddenly felt fearful and self-conscious. He twitched his hand so that the blue mark was hidden behind his back and his unmarked fist tightened a little on his backpack straps.

“Hello? Earth to Deku…”

Izuku was suddenly aware of the fact that Ochako was trying to get his attention, her hand resting on his shoulder. He flinched involuntarily and she removed her hand quickly with a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Deku are you alright? You seem kind of skittish,” She said, her eyes glittering with worry.

“Yeah, Uraraka is right, you have seemed awfully worn out and concerned lately, are you taking your meds?” Iida chimed in, his glasses glinting with the reflected light of the windows as he turned his head to look at Izuku properly.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry guys, I’m just really tired is all, those meds don’t have a sleep amplifier in them so my mind keeps me up at night sometimes,” Izuku replied, his hand retreating to rub at the back of his neck nervously.

“Are you sure? You seem a little more than just tired, you know that you can tell us anything right?” Ochako asked, her voice filled with a worry that made Izuku blush slightly. Izuku looked at his two closest friends, his heart torn between keeping Dakota a secret and settling his friend’s worries. He bit his lower lip and took the time to think while their conversation was interrupted by the act of getting food from the lunch line. Eventually, though, the trio made it to a table to eat and his friends were still staring at him as if he were about to drop dead. Finally, Izuku sighed and made a decision. 

_____________________________________

“Mom, I’m home, and I’ve brought friends!” Izuku called once he had entered his house and locked the front door behind Ochako and Iida. There was no answer to his call, and upon entering the kitchen, Izuku found a note from his mother that said she had gone out to buy some supplies from the store and to contact a veterinary office about having someone come by to check out Dakota. Izuku crumpled the note and threw it away before opening the fridge door and ducking in to see what food they had available. 

“Iida, Ochako, do you guys want anything? Any snacks or drinks?”

“I am alright, thanks Midoriya.”

“I’m good too, Deku!” His friends called from the living room. Izuku pushed some food around in the fridge before finding some fish in the back, fish that Izuku knew his mother was not planning on using anytime soon. He found his friends standing in the living room, exploring the space and admiring the apartment space despite the lack of things to admire. 

“This is a nice place, Deku! Hey, what is that fish for?” Izuku was about to respond that his home wasn’t much when he remembered how little money the Uraraka family had so he swallowed down his first answer and smiled.

“Thanks a lot, Uraraka! It is small but it is cozy and it is the perfect home for both my mother and I. As for this fish, I am going to use it in a moment because it has something to do with what has been keeping me up at night.”

Iida and Ochako glanced at each other before nodding for him to go on. Izuku took a deep breath and sorted his thoughts in order. He planned to tell them about Dakota but he meant to keep her true identity a secret. He did not need them panicking or getting themselves killed, he still had no idea how Dakota may react to him bringing new people to the house to see her. He did not want to accidentally let on that she was not actually a dog. 

“You see, about two days ago or so, I went out with my mom for dinner in hopes of relaxing a little and taking my mind off of some of the recent events that have happened to me. We had a great time but on our way home, we encountered this dog. She had black fur and these beautiful gleaming eyes, it was almost as if a piece of the night sky had wandered out of those bushes. She was a really impressive animal but she was injured, to the point where she collapsed in front of us. We didn’t want to leave her there and all of the nearby veterinarian offices were closed for the night so…”

“You took her home didn’t you, Midoriya?” Iida asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose, his eyebrows furrowed as he processed what Izuku said.

“Yeah, we did. That is what has been making me so skittish and anxious. She is a little on the aggressive side but she is mostly just scared for her life. I have been cleaning her wounds and trying to heal them as much as possible as there is no way we could ever take her to a vet, she would never in her life let us pick her up again. That is why my mother is gone today, she is trying to see if a vet would be willing to stop by the house to see what is wrong with her, but until then I’ve been taking care of her basically twenty-four seven.”

“But what about school then?” Ochako asked worriedly.

“Yeah, well that is why I was so anxious and out of the loop today, I’ve been stressing all day about her. I know my mother has been here for most of the day but you just never know with a strange dog you’ve just met at your house. I honestly don’t know how she will react to meeting you guys but I thought I’d give it a shot because I trust you guys and I needed someone to confide in.”

Ochako and Iida were silent for a moment before Ochako stood up and leaned in to give Izuku a tender hug. Izuku was a little bit shocked at first, his arms hesitating awkwardly over her back, but then he threw caution to the wind and returned her affections.

“Thank you for trusting us, Deku. I promise we will help you in any way possible with this injured dog, alright? We don’t want you to get too far behind in class right?” Ochako said as she released him and smiled at him. Izuku looked at both of them and smiled genuinely. 

“Alright then, thank you so much, guys! Are you ready to meet her?”

“Yeah!” Iida and Ochako stood up and followed Izuku down the hall to his bedroom. Izuku blushed a little at the fact that he forgot to clear out some of the All Might memorabilia in his room, and tried to ignore the fact that his bedroom was even labeled with an All Might sign. Forcing down his nerves as the trio reached the door, Izuku finally turned the door knob with one hand, his other hand holding the plate of fish up high. He opened the door a crack and peered in carefully, checking to make sure Dakota had not healed enough to be waiting by the door for an ambush. He only felt himself relax a little when he saw her curled up in her makeshift bed, as usual, her eyes watching him warily but somewhat less coldly. Izuku then pushed the door all the way open so that the dog and his friends were able to see each other clearly. 

Dakota tensed immediately but did not growl or bare her teeth, she just watched. Iida and Ochako peered through the opening and looked down at the dog, Ochako bringing her hands up to her mouth and Iida nervously readjusting his glasses again. Ochako then mumbled something behind her hands and Izuku turned to her, worried that she was scared of the dog.

“What was that, Ochako? Are you alright?”

“She is beautiful,” Ochako said, removing her hands from her mouth so that everyone in the room could hear her clearly. Dakota’s ears perked a little at that and her tail thumped twice and then stilled.

“Oh my god, Deku! I can’t believe you found this dog just wandering around the streets, injured and alone! She is the most gorgeous dog I’ve ever seen! I bet she will be a real prize-winner when she is fully healed,” Ochako gushed, her eyes never leaving the black dog. Dakota lowered her head a little, Izuku could almost describe it as a bashful move and licked her lips slightly. Her tail thumped twice more and Izuku’s eyes widened.

“Wow, congrats Ochako, you are officially her favorite person, I have never seen her wag her tail that much in one go.”

“Granted, you have only had her for two days, Deku,” Ochako said with a light blush decorating her cheeks but she smiled anyway and took a slow, tentative step forward. Dakota raised her head again and lowered her ears slowly but still did not act outwardly aggressively. Ochako still stopped once she saw the dog tense and turned to Izuku. 

“May I feed her?”

“I don’t really know, Ochako, she is still pretty aggressive, this is the most calm I’ve ever seen her.”

“I understand that Deku but I would like to try something and I need to be able to feed her to make it happen. I promise I won’t go through with it if she starts getting agitated.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck as he hesitated, his eyes roving over Dakota and her more relaxed stance. She was definitely still tense but at least she wasn't trying to tear anyone’s hand off. Yet. 

Finally, he sighed and nodded, handing the plate of fish over to Ochako.

“Promise me you won’t let her hurt you?” Izuku asked.

“I promise,” Ochako responded, taking the plate and facing back towards the dog again. The dog eyed both the fish and Ochako but did not react when Ochako took a slow step forward. 

“Deku, what is her name? Does she even have one?”

“Yes, I have been calling her Dakota. She seems to like it, or at least, she tolerates it.”

Ochako nodded and took another tentative step, her body position slack and relaxed, and her eyes shifted to the side so that she could still watch the dog but avoid making eye contact with her. Finally, Ochako was close enough to lean down and place the plate in front of the dog’s face, her body remaining lax as she barely bent down at the knees and pushed the plate to the dog. The dog hesitated but then lunged at the plate, the fish caught in her jaws before she leaned back into the dog bed and began ripping at the meat. Izuku and Iida both flinched a little when the dog went for the meat but then felt the tensions drift away slightly once she settled back down into the bed. Izuku and Iida were both expecting Ochako to slowly back away from the dog, but to their horror, she leaned down closer to the dog. She was not an idiot, she knew that even though Dakota was busy eating, she knew that the dog was watching her every move and would not hesitate to strike despite her injuries.

Izuku and Iida beckoned for her but she ignored them and raised her hand slowly until it was at the same height as her stomach so that the dog could see it clearly but was also not threatened by the idea of being hit. The boys wanted to launch in and stop her but they knew that that would only make it worse so they waited and watched, ready to bolt in and grab her should everything go downhill. 

Moving at the pace of a snail, Ochako slowly snaked her hand past the plate and came to hover over the dog’s shoulder. She waited for a moment and took a deep breath before resting her hand ever so lightly on Dakota’s fur. Dakota immediately froze, a piece of meat hanging limply from her lips but she did not attack.

“Shhhh… shhh… easy girl, my name is Ochako Uraraka. Your name is Dakota, right? That is a very pretty name, very fitting for such a beautiful creature,” Ochako spoke in a barely audible whisper, a blanket of determination and courage fogging over the fear in her eyes so that they shone. “I am here to help you heal so that you can be free to do whatever you please. You are a good dog, a really good dog.”

Ochako moved her hand at an even slower pace than before, her hand able to detect each and every piece of fur that passed beneath it. She kept her hand on the shoulder, just twitching her fingers as a form of petting. At first, Izuku didn’t notice it as his mind was clouded with fear for his friend, but then he felt it. Very lightly, very softly, he felt a warm, pleasurable sensation drift from his shoulder and flow down his arm as if someone had poured liquid gold over his skin. He didn’t know why he felt this way and he stared at his arm as if there were an alien attached but he wouldn’t say that he hated the sensation, in fact, it felt… nice.

As soon as the Izuku realized that the sensation was there, it was gone, just as Ochako lifted her hand from Dakota’s shoulder and leaned back on her heels before standing very slowly and backing away from the dog. The dog continued to watch Ochako, ignoring the fish clamped in her claws until she was all the way back at the door with her friends. Then, just before the floaty hero in training turned away, Dakota thumped her tail two more times and went back to eating her fish. The trio left the room and closed the door softly behind them. As soon as the door was shut, the three of them let out a breath they each didn’t know they had been holding.

“Uraraka! Are you out of your mind!?” Iida exclaimed. “Midoriya, no wonder you don’t sleep at night! That was some of the highest stress I’ve ever felt and we are heroes in training for god's sake!” 

Izuku shook his head, his hair swaying as if he were shaking rainwater off of him.

“Yeah, Uraraka you could have gotten really hurt, I told you she was aggressive. I don’t really know why she liked you so much in particular, but I was really worried about you. Please don’t do that again without letting us know what the plan is first,” Izuku said. Ochako felt her face flush, she was embarrassed to have caused so much trouble even though nothing really happened and she knew that she should have told her friends what she was planning but she was happy she got to try out what she wanted to do.

“I’m sorry Deku, Iida, I won’t do that again, I promise but I am glad that she let me touch her like that. I wanted to test something out.”

“What was it that you were testing for?” Iida asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, the anxiety having caused a light sheen of sweat to build up.

“I think part of the reason why she is so aggressive is that not only do her wounds suggest that she has been seriously abused by a person, but I don’t think she has been lovingly touched in her life, ever. When I pet her, she was wary but I could also tell that she was just scared and so desperately lonely. She may not understand Japenese, but you saw her reaction when I complimented her, I don’t think she’s ever even been looked at without fear or aggression. She just wants someone to love and for someone to love her back. She wants to know kindness. I was testing to see how she would react based on how I approached her and since she was wary but still let me touch her, I’d say she is willing to give it a chance.” Ochako had been speaking to both boys but now she turned her whole attention to Izuku.

“Deku, please don’t ever give up on that dog. She is one of the most unique creatures I have ever met, I can just tell just from having this one interaction with her. Treat her like someone who hates heroes because of some kind of accident, someone who needs help but pushed everyone away. I’ve seen the look in your eye when you see someone in need, promise me you won’t ever lose that spark, especially when it comes to this dog.”

Izuku stared right back into Ochako’s determined eyes, his heart racing and his body trying to force his breathing into a normal rhythm again. 

“Ochako, I promise.”


	8. Unravel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's that day of the week! Thanks for all of your patience, it has been a busy week so I've had to kind of scramble to find time to write. But now I finally have the full chapter done, I am posting it now for all of those fellow insomniacs out there who are reading this at 1 in the morning just like I am writing this at 1 in the morning. So thank you so much for all of your support, I greatly appreciate everything and reading your comments make my heart want to burst with happiness! Here is the 8th chapter in the Night Terrors and New Beginnings part of this series! See you next Saturday!

Inko Midoriya came home soon after Ochako had fed Dakota to find the trio casually talking an eating snacks in the living room, lounging on the sofas and relaxing. She felt a wave of relief wash over her at the sight of her son looking so calm and loved watching how warmly he conversed with his friends. She offered to have them stay for dinner but as they had school the next morning, they decided to head home and get some sleep. Once they left, Izuku and his mother ate at the dinner table in comfortable silence, Izuku’s relaxing mood continuing even after his friends had gone. Inko sighed and her son looked up, his eyes shining with color and his face brightened with emotion for the first time in several days. 

“What’s wrong, mom?”

“Oh, nothing is wrong sweetie, nothing at all. I am just feeling relaxed right now.”

“That’s good to hear, you sound less tired than usual.”

“As do you.”

“How was your trip into town today? Find any veterinarians who would be willing to drive out here?” Izuku asked, stabbing a piece of pasta with his fork and bringing it to his lips.

Inko sighed with a little more defeat this time. “Unfortunately, Izuku, I only found two vet places that were even remotely close to this city and the first one said that our address was too far for one of their staff to drive all the way out to, and the other said that they could send out a guy but that they were busy for the next few weeks so I wouldn’t be able to book anything for at least a month!”

“Oh no, that doesn’t help us at all…” Some of the grey exhaustion seemed to come back into Izuku’s features and Inko immediately rushed to change the subject, her mind panicking at the dark shadow that seemed to be trying to hard to take over her normally genuinely happy son.

“Oh, but on the bright side, I managed to get ahold of Haruka again and she is willing to come by our house to take a look at the mark on your hand again! She said that it may have something to do with that evil dragon’s quirk, so she is coming around tomorrow afternoon to check it out!”

Izuku brightened a little at that. He had come to learn how to live with the mark but he was really tired of feeling all of these confusing emotions and the almost non-stop flow of pain that seemed to always be nipping at his nerves, his only reprieve was the medication from Haruka. The pair finished dinner as the tensions in the room settled a little bit more and then the two got up and brought their dishes to the sink.

“Alright, why don’t you go hang out for a while and start getting ready for bed, I can do these dishes,” Inko said, picking up a plate and the sink brush.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

“Alright…”

Izuku walked to the fridge and found some more ground beef in one of the drawers to take to Dakota. Balancing the meat on a new plate from the cabinet, Izuku made his way to his room to feed the beast. Izuku reached his bedroom door and decided not to overthink it too much and so he did not pause and take a deep breath or peer nervously through the cracked door like he usually did. Still avoiding being loud or obnoxious, Izuku pushed his bedroom door open with confidence and shut it behind him until he heard it click. Usually, he would opt to keep the door cracked open slightly so as to have an escape route but today, he decided to take Ochako’s advice. Treat Dakota as if she were a person going through a rough time with nobody to believe in. He was still one hundred percent sure that she could kill him in under two seconds and he knew she would if she was threatened so he didn’t want to appear overconfident but he was also tired of dancing around her as if she were toxic.

Dakota lifted her head from where it had been resting on her paws and looked at him up and down, sniffing once. She could feel that he was trying to be as brave and confident as possible so she did not growl, she just watched him. Izuku now didn’t know what else to do, he could feel his shield of false confidence start to waver as he fought with his brain for the next step. That was when his thoughts wandered back to the scene from earlier that day when Ochako had given Dakota her meal. 

“Talk to her…” Izuku whispered to himself. Dakota leaned forward just barely, to the point where Izuku almost missed it but he caught it out of the corner of his eye. That was when Ochako’s words rang true. She was just lonely, all she wants is a companion, someone who will listen and understand. He had understood Ochako back when she had originally told him this but now he could feel it, just in the way she had leaned forward ever so slightly to catch what he was saying, whether she understood his language or not, she was desperate to have him speak to her. He cleared his throat a little and swallowed his tingling nerves.

“H-Hello, Dakota. How are you d-doing this e-evening?” Izuku mentally slapped himself as he stuttered. He needed to keep his voice steady. He knew that he couldn’t let his guard down completely and he knew that he shouldn’t lose his fear of her completely as he still needed to respect the fact that she was one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. But he did know that he needed to stop treating her like a disgusting monster. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stutter. To be honest, I’ve never spoken to a dragon before and I’m a little nervous,” Izuku felt more confidence seep into his body little by little. Being honest, even with the daughter of death, was kind of refreshing and gave him a starting place to build trust between them. “Are you feeling any better? We are trying to find the right person to heal you because as you know, veterinary science isn’t a real skill of mine.”

Dakota thumped her tail twice and swiped her pink tongue over her lips a little. Izuku took this as a good thing and took a tentative step forward, holding the plate of meat out in front of him. 

“Is it alright if I come closer to you? I know you want your food and I want to give it to you but I also want to avoid the fear of losing my arm whenever I get near you.”

Dakota tilted her head slightly, her eyes glittering. Izuku did not expect an answer but just as she had done in that strange vision Izuku had had, she dipped her head ever so slightly with closed eyes. After a few seconds, she raised her head once more and opened her eyes to peer at him curiously. Izuku took another deep breath, this was good, really good. This was the longest amount of time in which she had not growled or bared her teeth at him. She was showing real positive emotion for the first time since he had carried her half-dead into his home.

“Thank you,” Izuku whispered before taking a few more slow steps until he was right in front of her. Fear still electrified his nerves but he was able to overpower that feeling with that of pride and curiosity. Kneeling down slowly, he reached an arm out and placed the plate of food in front of her with a nervous smile. Dakota watched him for a moment before leaning forward and gently scooping some of the meat into her mouth. Izuku released a soft sigh of relief that she had not launched for her food like she normally did. Baby steps, just more baby steps. 

“You are a good dragon, Dakota,” Izuku whispered and Dakota paused her eating to look right into his eyes. “I am sorry, for everything. I don’t know anything about your past but I do know that no matter what you’ve done, no matter who you’ve harmed or killed if you have done so, you don’t deserve the abuse you have undergone. I am so sorry.”

Izuku lifted his hand up, he could feel his fingers trembling but he couldn’t stop them, his heart was trying to burst through his chest and his mind was trying as hard as it could to convince him to move his hand out of danger but he forced his muscles to move his arm forward. While Ochako had reached for Dakota’s shoulder, Izuku threw caution to the wind and aimed for her head. His throat was dry and his body was breaking out in a cold sweat but he did not try to hide it. He was not going to hide from her, he was not going to deceive her. Izuku closed his eyes and turned his head away, his whole body shaking with fear and anticipation. 

Dakota hesitated, her eyes roving over his held out palm, her brain mulling over her decision choices. She could almost feel the tension dripping from his body, but she knew that he was trying as hard as he possibly could to make an effort. She almost turned away, he was a human after all and she had learned very early on that all humans are evil. But then she remembered his soft apology, the genuine guilt, and sadness that had flowed throughout his entire being. She also remembered his fear of her, his wariness of her in a way that mirrored her own fears. Maybe not all people were that bad. Swallowing the last of her doubts, she leaned forward, her meat forgotten, and placed her head on the outstretched palm in front of her that couldn’t quite reach her on its own.

Izuku sucked in a breath and opened his eyes, his head turning to peer at Dakota hesitantly. Her eyes were closed and her ears were folded back onto her head but he could immediately tell that it was in a relaxed way rather than the way she would pin her ears when she was angry. He released the breath he had sucked in so violently and began to twitch his fingers gently. His hand tingled and his palm began to glow faintly as she opened her eyes in slight surprise at the feeling of his gentle fingers carving little pathways in her fur. Izuku made eye contact with her as he began to pet her more properly, remaining wary of her just in case he overstepped any boundaries but grew a little more confident with each passing second as she relaxed into his actions. Dakota closed her eyes again and Izuku was shocked to the core to see a tear slide down her face. It was barely visiblexw4ecr5v6t7y9l0o] ed4bfrngynhumji,ko.lp/;[‘sd and he almost missed it but he saw it and he felt his entire heart constrict with sadness for the poor creature. 

“Good girl, Dakota. You are safe now.”

__________________________________________

Izuku woke up the next morning feeling a lot better, actually having slept through the night without waking up in a cold sweat. His alarm clock went off early but when he got out of bed to get ready for school he didn’t feel as groggy and depressed as he had in the past few days. Dakota was even in a better mood. She still watched him warily constantly but she actually wagged her tail twice when he said goodbye to her for the day. Ochako and Iida immediately felt a difference in his behavior and they were both thrilled when he told them quietly about the progression he had managed to move through with the aggressive dog in his room. He made it through the day feeling focused and refreshed. He made it through hero training feeling so energized that he was able to fight his fellow classmates for almost an hour before he wore himself out in their combat training sessions for the day. He finally ended home with Ochako and Iida, talking to them for the entire train ride. 

Inko also immediately noticed her son’s changed behavior and beamed when he suggested they play a board game in the living room before Haruka was scheduled to show up. They played together on the floor of their living room for a while before Izuku excused himself to go check on Dakota’s wounds. He walked to his bedroom and opened his door, holding a roll of gauze, cotton balls, and water. For the first time since Dakota had arrived, when Izuku pushed open the door, Dakota wagged her tail, thumping it on the floor three times rather than the usual two. Izuku felt his heart flutter a little at the sight and even though he knew he still had to be careful, he felt more comfortable around her.

“Hey girl, how are you doing today? I promise I won’t hurt you, but if you allow me, I’d like to take a look at your injuries, alright?”

Dakota lowered her head and lost the warm spark in her eyes, her ears rotating around to flatten across her head, but she thumped her tail once. Izuku inhaled a little and made his way over to her, holding the medical materials out so that she could see all of them clearly. He finally kneeled down beside her and placed the supplies beside him, his eyes never straying from hers as he reached a tentative hand over to pet her head once. Ever since he had broken the glacier that had been blocking her personality, their relationship had been less icy. He was aware that he still had to pay mind to the fact that she was still a dangerous dragon, but her refreshed attitude gave him hope. He kept his eyes open this time and managed to keep his hand at least a little more steady than the first time he had touched her. He hadn’t even gotten very close to her when she leaned forward, almost eagerly, and placed her forehead against his palm so that the markings on their flesh lined up. The marking on her head began to glow first, and then his palm lit up warmly. 

Her desperation to be loved made Izuku’s heart twinge in sadness and he wished he could just pull her into a hug and hold her forever, but he knew that her wounds would not heal themselves, and so after waiting for a few more seconds, Izuku smiled and pulled his hand away softly. Dakota looked up into his eyes and wagged her tail four times. Izuku’s heart burst with happiness at each thump of her soft tail and he was sure he felt a distant feeling of relief as if he were feeling it from outside of his own body. His eyes drifted out of focus for a moment, and he suddenly felt that relieving feeling flow through his entire body, calming him. This sensation only lasted for a moment, and when he shook his head and blinked a few times to clear the strange foggy feeling from his head, he glanced at Dakota to see her eyes closed and her mouth hanging slightly open. Izuku watched her for a little longer before shaking his head once more and moving to work on her front leg.

Dakota opened her eyes and returned to more of a cold demeanor as he neared her injuries, but she remained stiffly silent and still, closing her eyes and ignoring him. Izuku, on the other hand, ignored all other thoughts and distractions and focused whole-heartedly on healing the dog, his hands moving efficiently but gently over her injured leg and side. He wanted to help heal her wings, as he knew that they had been torn to pieces by the strange men who had cornered them in that forest clearing, but he knew that even if she could change back, she wouldn’t let him anywhere near her wings. He brewed over the subject, his mind wandering over to her damaged wings, the thoughts burying fear deep within him. Was it healthy for her to keep them hidden for so long when they were as injured as they were? Would she ever be able to fly again? That question shot a spear of sadness through him so suddenly that his hands froze and he gasped softly. Dakota opened her eyes and looked over at Izuku. Izuku clenched a hand into his shirt over his heart and made eye contact with the black dog. Finally, he managed to slow his breathing and he leaned forward to continue wrapping her broken leg with two sticks and the bandages. His hands moved swiftly over her wounds, the soft bandage curling over the leg like fresh snow falling on the sidewalk. He was so focused that when Dakota very suddenly and aggressively snarled at him, he audibly yelped and leaped away from her, just having pinned the bandage into place. For the second time in less than a minute, his breathing and heart rate were through the roof and his confusion had spiked. That is until he scrambled back into something solid behind him. Izuku looked up slowly and rolled away from the solid thing behind him, suddenly realizing that the thing he had hit was Haruka’s legs. He realized that he had been so busy with Dakota that she had walked in and he hadn’t even heard her. That explained Dakota’s sudden aggression.

“Oh! Hello, Haruka! I didn’t see you there! What can I help you with?”

“Well, I am here to check up on the mark on your hand. Your mother told me, the medication hasn’t caused any kind of fading, correct?”

“Oh yeah, right! I am sorry, I was busy with-”

“Oh my…” Haruka sighed softly, her eyes widening a little as she peered behind Izuku at the large black dog on the floor beside Izuku’s bed. Haruka took one step forward and Dakota let out a vicious snarl that caused Izuku to blanch a little.

“Sorry, she is a little aggressive as you can see, it is probably in the best interest of both of you to stay away from her.”

Haruka did not answer, she just kept staring at the dog, who had somehow managed to force herself to move so that she was cowering in the back corner of the bedroom, her back pressed flat against the wall and her teeth bared.

Haruka took a tiny step forward and Dakota snarled again, the throaty sounds bouncing around the room wildly. That was when Izuku felt it. It was the strangest sensation, a feeling of some of the worst fear he had ever felt. It jolted down his body and electrified his limbs to the point where he actually jerked a little in place. A split second after he felt this blinding fear, he felt as if he was being thrown through a tunnel in time, as his vision changed from that of his bedroom to the clearing where he had met Dakota. He saw Haruka and Dakota along with a woman he did not know and a huge white dragon covered in bones. The images flashed through his mind, where he saw Dakota attack the bone dragon, he saw Haruka jerk her head as she activated her quirk, breaking Dakota’s leg. He saw the proud Night Fury fall, her eyes wide with fear as the other woman touched Dakota’s flank and used her quirk. He saw her change into a dog. He saw her gallop off into the woods with an arrow flying after her. He saw the arrow strike home before she ran off through the brush. He saw himself, kneeling down on the road to pick up the fallen black dog. 

Suddenly, his eyes readjusted and he was once again able to see his bedroom. He blinked and turned his head to look at Haruka, who was not even looking at him and had not moved from her place before his vision. That was when he realized that the vision he had just witnessed had lasted for less than ten seconds and that nothing had changed. Nothing except for Dakota, who kept glancing at him from her corner of the room and the fact that he now knew. His heart hammered in his chest and his mind scrambled for a plan. He had no idea if she was a villain, or if he was just misreading the vision he had seen, or if the vision had been a skewed perspective in some way. He glanced between the dog and Haruka just as she took another step closer, a larger step this time. Dakota’s growl faltered a bit as a fearful whimper slipped past her jaws and Izuku made up his mind.

Haruka took another step towards the dog and Izuku set his plan into motion, ignoring all of his instincts to turn the other way and let the dragon live the consequences of her actions. He knew that she was dangerous. He knew that she was a killer. He knew she probably didn’t deserve saving, but Izuku knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of ridicule. The sight of Haruka advancing on Dakota as she cowered helplessly against the wall just made him think about all of those times when he was like Dakota and Bakugo was like Haruka. Izuku had always been so scared during those times, his mind going through all of the possible things that Bakugo could do to him with his cool quirk and better strength. The only difference in this situation was that when it was Bakugo who was bullying Izuku, Izuku never feared for his life. Izuku knew now that this interaction could result in the decision for life or death… for either one of them. 

Haruka was now close enough to try to lean down to touch Dakota, the poor dog leaning as far back against the wall as possible, her teeth bared only half-heartedly as the panic set into her eyes. Haruka leaned down ever so slightly, just to have her view obscured by two strong legs. Haruka blinked a few times and looked up to see Izuku, facing her with his legs positioned in a half-lunge while his fists were raised in a loose fighting stance. Haruka stood all the way up and Izuku moved one leg back so that it could be lifted over Dakota’s back so that he was standing completely above her. Dakota blinked a few times in shock, her mouth was even hanging open slightly. After a second, the shock faded and Izuku felt an intense mixed feeling of relief and gratitude wash through him like hot chocolate does on a freezing winter day. 

“Haruka, I am sorry but I thought I made it very clear earlier that Dakota is not feeling well and should be left alone. I would appreciate it if you would please give her some space and maybe we can get back to figuring out what is wrong with my hand.”

Haruka was silent for a moment, she took a step back and then tilted her head with a small smile tugging at her lips.

“You named her.”

“What?”

“You named her. You two are farther along than I thought.”

Izuku was worried about what this could possibly mean. He knew that Haruka knew that Dakota was a dragon, that much was obvious from the vision he had had but he did not know what she meant by ‘being farther along’. Haruka frowned a little and brought her hand up to her chin for a minute, thinking carefully to herself. After a little while, though, she looked back up at Izuku and sighed.

“I guess I probably shouldn’t keep you in the dark anymore, how comfortable would you be if I invited you back to my cabin for some tea and a talk? I think you have figured out by now that I know about this dog being a dragon, Dakota was it?”

Izuku was a little dumbfounded but he fought to keep his face neutral. He didn’t want to give away anything yet as he still wasn’t clear on her intentions.

“Yes, her name is Dakota, but why should I trust you? Why should I come to your cabin?”

Haruka smiled genuinely then, her eyes brightening a little and her various bone jewelry jangling as she lifted up her arm and held out her hand, fingers stretched wide to reveal her palm. Izuku gasped and Dakota perked her ears as they both gazed down at the large swirly symbol that was engraved into the raised ridge of her palm.


	9. Pyro Connections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I have had a lot of time to write and so I have been working on this chapter continuously throughout the week, resulting in both me posting this sooner in the day and a chapter that is really long, just for all of my dedicated readers out there! This chapter was literally originally 25 pages long but I managed to shorten it down to 10 as I didn't want you guys to get too lost and there were times when I was kind of just rambling. This chapter has a lot of explaining in it, so please stick with it, but all of the information is SUPER important and explains all of the confusing pieces! If you guys have any questions feel free to comment or pm me as I love getting your messages and will be happy to further untangle anything misleading! I really hope you enjoy this long chapter! Part 1 of this series will only have one more chapter after this, and then I will move onto part two, so keep an eye out for new updates in the future!

Izuku stayed with Dakota while Haruka left to go talk to Inko. Izuku still felt unsure of Haruka’s intentions, but also knew that he did not have much of a choice. So, he waited with his dragon while the therapist went to talk to his mother about taking Izuku to her cabin for some ‘extended treatment’ on his hand. As soon as Haruka left the room, Dakota had collapsed a little, her wounds, unable to hold her up any longer and Izuku had leaned down to support her. She was scared and in quite a lot of pain so, despite the fact that she was still uncomfortable with being this close to Izuku, she lay still as he held her half in and half out of his lap. She sighed and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes as she began to tremble. Izuku was shocked, he had always known her to be aggressive and confident and unbroken. Seeing her like this, vulnerable and weak, gave Izuku an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

Haruka opened his bedroom door and Izuku tightened his hold on Dakota ever so slightly. Dakota glanced at Haruka and growled low in her throat, the fur on the back of her neck rising so that they poked Izuku in the arms a little bit. 

“So, what did she say?” Izuku asked hesitantly. Haruka smiled genuinely and crouched down so that she could hold her hand out to Dakota, palm out. 

“She said that it was alright just so long as we finish our therapy session by 10:30 pm at the latest so that she can go to pick you up.” Dakota did not lunge forward but she did open and snap her jaws shut as a warning. Haruka got the message and pulled her hand away, her smile fading a little. 

“I also told her that I would be taking Dakota off of your hands for a bit since I am a qualified veterinarian,” Haruka said.

“What!?” Izuku’s eyes widened as he whipped his head around to look at her incredulously.

“You can’t take her away! I don’t even know you that well! I have no idea what your intentions are, especially since you have made it clear that you know what she really is!” 

Dakota snarled from her place against the wall and pinned her ears flat against her head, another suffocating wave of fear washing over Izuku. 

“She will only get worse if she doesn’t see a vet, Midoriya.”

“Yeah! Because you made her this way!” Izuku blurted out, placing his hands protectively over Dakota’s body.

Haruka’s face changed then, her eyes softening and her mouth opening in slight surprise. 

“She showed you that memory?”

“What memory?”

“The memory of Dakota when she was fighting Emiko and me.”

“Who is Emiko? And what are you talking about?”

Haruka shook her head and smiled at Dakota. The dog just snarled in response.

“You had a quick period of time where you saw something that you have never seen before as if you were remembering a memory that you never experienced, right? That was Dakota, in a moment of really intense emotion, she accidentally sent you a memory that contained the base of that emotion, the origin.”

“How is that even possible? What are you talking about?” Izuku asked impatiently, his mind swirling with all of these ideas and realizations.

“Come to the cabin with me, bring Dakota, and I will explain everything. I promise.”

“And how do I know that your promise holds any weight at all?”

Haruka hesitated as she thought for a moment.

“Because I have a special creature in my life as well, a dragon who I would do anything for. A dragon who is my whole world and makes me who I am today. I understand your confusion and your fear and even your determination. Please, let me help you,” Haruka said, digging around in her pocket until she was able to produce a small bracelet with a keychain on it. A keychain of a white eagle. “Let us help you.”

Izuku looked up into Haruka’s eyes and saw the bright determination and what he desperately hoped was honesty in there. He couldn’t be sure, but it was enough that he was able to make a decision. He glanced down at Dakota who whined a little, but he lifted a hand and stroked her ear gently. He looked back at Haruka and nodded once.

_________________________________

Izuku and Haruka had hurried over to the cabin after that, Izuku carefully carrying a slightly trembling, slightly growling Dakota into the back of Haruka’s truck along with her make-shift bed, as it was made out of blankets that she was now familiar and comfortable with. During the entire car ride, nobody spoke and Dakota was too tired to keep up her act of snarling and growling all of the time, so she fell asleep with her chin resting on the door handle of the car door and her tail facing Izuku. Izuku just watched out the window to peer through the thickening darkness as they drove, desperately hoping that he wasn’t getting himself into something that was too much for him to handle.

Now, Izuku and Haruka sat in the warm coziness of her home, watching each other from opposite plush chairs, waiting for the other to start talking. Dakota had been situated on the floor by Izuku’s feet, her soft blankets pooling around his ankles. She was no longer growling but the fur on the back of her neck was still raised menacingly and her sharp eyes never left Haruka’s. 

Finally, Haruka took a deep breath and whistled one low note into the living space. Izuku blinked in confusion and Dakota flicked an ear in annoyance but neither moved nor spoke. Everyone in the room waited for a moment before the fluttering of feathered wings caught Izuku’s attention so that he looked to one of the many open windows in the room where a gray eagle had just soared inside. The eagle beat the air around him rapidly with his large wings before he settled down calmly on Haruka’s shoulder. Haruka reached up and tickled under his chin, in which the bird raised his wings a little, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth slightly as if he were smiling. He ruffled his feathers before settling down again, replacing his wings at his sides and turning his head to get a better look at Izuku and Dakota. Once the bird saw Dakota though, his joyful demeanor diminished a little and Izuku saw the bird tense, raising his wings just an inch so as to be prepared for a quick getaway should he need one.

“Are you ready to tell me the truth now?” Izuku asked quickly as he felt Dakota tense beside him, her gaze shifting to stare right at the eagle on Haruka’s shoulder in an aggressive challenge. He did not want a fight to break out between the animals.

“Yes, I am ready. I want to start off with an apology-”

“Please, save it,” Izuku cut her off. He wanted to remain respectful of Haruka since she was older than him but he was tired of the stalling. “Please just give me the answers.”

Haruka closed her mouth and nodded slowly before beginning again.

“Remember what I told you that mark on your hand was?”

“Yeah, you said it was a brand, a mark that dragons use to tag their prey for future reference. To survive even in the worst of situations by marking their next meal for when they are safe once more.”

Dakota sat bolt upright at that and let out a guttural snarl that reverberated around the room, making Izuku jump and the eagle on Haruka’s shoulder to let out a tense squawk.

“Well, as you can probably tell from Dakota’s reaction to that description, I told you wrong,” Haruka said.

“Why did you lie to me then?” Izuku asked.

“Because your mother was there and it was necessary at the time. I was unsure as to whether or not your dragon was dead due to the fact that you had been out of it at the hospital and you were in a lot of pain every time you came to my therapy sessions, and I did not want you to deal with the negative effects of that if it were true.”

“Why would I feel negative effects if the dragon who attacked me got killed in the process? And what do you mean by ‘my dragon’? I don’t own this dragon, and as soon as she is healed I plan on bringing her back out into the wild to live out the rest of her days as she pleases,” Izuku said. For some reason, he felt a pang of sadness both within him and in that weird distant way that he felt sometimes at the thought of parting with Dakota. 

“You see, that’s the thing young Midoirya. I don’t think you remember the night that you were attacked very well because that mark on your hand is not a brand. It is a bond. And no matter the case, a bonded dragon will never attack the human with whom they are bonded to. I wasn’t there so I can’t be 100% sure, but I am certain that this is not just and open and shut case.”

“A bond?” Izuku asked, his eyes widening as he listened.

“Yes. A bond is something that occurs very rarely between a human and a dragon, it is something more precious than anything else in the world, and it can be the best thing that has ever happened to you in your life. But you have to cherish it, you have to nurture your connection and you have to try to understand it. Now, to really define a bond, it is a connection that is forged between dragon and human when one of each matches each other as equals in every sense of the way. This includes in the mind, in the heart, in power, in potential, etc. Despite this, a bond is only forged when they touch each other, in any situation and in any way, once they touch, if they are a perfect match, then a bond is solidified. A human and a dragon could technically be a bonded pair, but if they never touch they would never know, going about their whole lives as normal. But when you were ‘attacked’ you touched Dakota, and a bond was created, a bridge between your minds and your souls. That bond is signified by a symbol which appears wherever you first touch, which in your case was on Dakota’s forehead and your hand.”

Izuku felt light-headed. He couldn’t believe what he was actually hearing, a bond? How was that even possible? He wasn’t equal to this beast, a creature known for its intense physical prowess and renowned intelligence. And her power, the Night Fury is one of the most powerful dragons in the world, definitely the most feared, how did he even come close to her in any way?

“B-But b-but-”

“I know it sounds confusing and impossible,” Haruka cut across him. “I felt the same way about things when I first bonded to Cassian,” Haruka reached up and stroked the eagle’s head, one of his feathers sticking up as her fingers brushed over the soft material. “You are probably asking yourself, how does that work? How am I worthy? How am I equal to this creature in any way?”

Izuku couldn’t hide his slight surprise. He was impressed but also still very afraid and confused so he remained silent and let her continue.

“Trust me, Cassian in his full dragon form is huge, he is made of large bones that cover him all over his body and he is very powerful, especially since his skin and muscles have remained unharmed due to the protection his bones provide. It has allowed him to mature and grow, providing for his body in a way that has given him what is basically dragon super-strength. I bonded to him when I was about your age, I was at a friend’s house and this dragon was out hunting. My friend’s father was a dragon hunter and had a bunch of snares and traps set up around their house, which led to Cassian being caught in one of the wing snares in their backyard. Thankfully, his bones protected his wings from being destroyed, but he was still stuck. My friend’s father was very willing to go out and kill him, he was even showing me where to strike when I accidentally touched him on the side of the neck and felt the impact of the bond. Despite his dedication to his work, my friend’s father was close enough to me to be almost like my own father, and let him live for my sake.”

Izuku nodded as Haruka paused to take a drink from her water.

“The friend I am talking about is someone who I am still very close with, her name is Emiko, and she was the other woman who you saw in your vision, the one when we first met Dakota.”

Dakota bared her teeth but otherwise did not act.

“Emiko has a dragon too but they are not bonded to each other. Not all humans have a bonded pair and it is not a bad thing to not bond with a dragon. Just because you are not bonded does not mean that you can’t be close with a dragon, it just means that you are not as mentally involved, I guess. She has a female Hobblegrunt by the name of Kamereon, but we call her Kame for short.” (AN: This means chameleon in Japanese for those who don’t know!).

“So, what does that mean for us? Does this affect us physically? How does this relate to the visions that I’ve been having?”

Haruka smiled at the onslaught of questions and popped her knuckles.

“Well, some things you have already experienced. For example, the visions that you have been experiencing lately are what I explained earlier. They are memories that she accidentally sends to you when she is experiencing a very strong emotion. This is only possible because the bond forms a bridge between your minds, what she has experienced is something that you now have access to, and vice versa. I would not be surprised if she has also experienced these strange visions just with your own memories instead of hers. This ability will grow and develop until you can control which memories you send over as well as being able to convey present images rather than just past events. This ability is one of the most incredible as it is the most intimate between you and your dragon. Eventually, you may even be able to talk to your dragon using that bridge between your minds, and she may be able to respond back.”

“Wait, what? She will be able to speak Japenese?”

“Well not quite, she won’t be able to articulate those words physically as her vocal cords are physically unable to form words, it would be like a mouse learning to speak French, but she will be able to speak to you through that link in your minds. In other words, you will be able to speak and understand the dragon language, but you will only be able to do so mentally so that nobody around you will know. For example, in the future, you may be at the park with your friends, and you could be talking to them about some homework while also talking to your dragon right beside you without them ever even knowing. Of course, you would have to really practice the art of partial multitasking, as that is technically not possible, but you get what I’m saying, right?”

“I think so… God, this is insane…”

“I know, it is really hard to wrap your head around. I still can’t believe it sometimes, but you’ve been taking it really well so far. Would you be comfortable hearing some more?”

Izuku glanced at Dakota and she looked back up at him, her eyes glimmering slightly. He watched her for a moment and saw her just barely perceptible nod. He looked back to Haruka and nodded as well.

“Alright then. There are both benefits and deficits to being bonded to a dragon,” Haruka said. “For one, a deficit is that you can both feel everything about the other one. This includes pain, which is why you have been feeling so terrible lately. You have been feeling the pain of all of her injuries as well as her mentally depressed state which has been affecting you almost as much as her. This happens both ways though, if you injure yourself, such as break a bone, she will feel the pain of such as soon as it happens. The only reason that hasn’t been happening to you as severely lately is because of the medication I gave you which is designed for people who are bonded to dragons. I had to get it from a private holder though, as this society does not support people who are bonded to dragons. Picture it this way, Midoriya,” Haruka said, standing up abruptly and running around the couch to rummage in the closet that broke off from the main living space.

Suddenly, she came running back holding two mirrors, one in each hand. She ran back around the couch and placed both mirrors on the table so that they faced each other. 

“This, Midoriya, is what a bond would look like inside your brain. Not exactly like this, of course, it is just a metaphor, but picture the bond as two mirrors that have opened up in each of your minds, one in yours and one in hers. These two mirrors are linked by a bridge which allows all of your thoughts, memories, and experiences to move across, but with the mirrors on either side, those ideas, and thoughts get reflected back into each other in a never-ending chain.”

Haruka then resituated the mirrors just slightly so that the lights from the lamps around them reflected off of them and bounced around the room.

“Even though this may seem confusing and even frustrating at times, it always shines the light of love and knowledge as you two are the only ones who truly know each other, and it will always be that way. You can become really close to someone, a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, and they will never know you as well as that dragon and vice versa,” Haruka said, pointing a loose finger towards Dakota. Dakota growled but it wasn’t as aggressive as usual and her ears remained forward despite the signs of encroachment.

“Now I do want to clarify something,” Haruka said. “This is not part of her quirk. This is entirely something of nature, it is as natural as hunting or going to the bathroom and it has nothing to do with whatever power she has if she even has a quirk. For example, my quirk is bone manipulation which allows me to break, build and heal bones into whatever form I want. It is specifically called MaliBone but that does not matter for now. Cassian has a quirk called Scorpion Spear, which basically gives him the ability to separate the bone armor from his body and form it into many long bone tails that each contains a spearhead on the top, something that resembles a scorpion’s tail. Despite this, we are still able to perform tasks such as talking to each other through the bridge in our minds and allowing each other to see what the other can see. Anybody who hears about this kind of power thinks that I have some kind of telepathy power, which is simply untrue.”

“So, wait…” Izuku said as he thought for a moment. “If your quirk is bone manipulation, and you broke Dakota’s leg, does that mean you can heal it as well?”

Haruka looked down at Dakota and smiled as the dog immediately stopped growling low in her throat and perked her ears in Haruka’s direction.

“Yes, I can. I do want to apologize for hurting you earlier, Dakota, I didn’t want to but I panicked when you attacked my dragon. Hopefully, now you both understand why that panic came over me but I understand that it has caused you quite a lot of pain and I did not mean for that to be the case. I will heal your leg, but I can’t promise you that it won’t hurt when I do so.”

Dakota pinned her ears again, but not as aggressively, before she gave a dejected nod in Haruka’s direction. Haruka beamed anyway and closed her eyes.

“Alright, I will snap your bone back together again on that count of three.”

Izuku placed a reassuring hand on Dakota’s head and weakly smiled at Haruka as his way of giving her the okay.

“Ready?”

Both Izuku and Dakota nodded.

“THREE!”

Dakota yelped loudly and Izuku jumped as he heard the bone snap back together, as if it were a rubber band being brought back to its relaxed state after being held taut. 

“Haruka! You said on the count of three!” Izuku called out as he leaned down to examine Dakota, her teeth bared at the bone hero.

“Yeah, and I said three! I am sorry, it was a bad joke but I have discovered that apprehension is the worst form of anxiety. When I did it unexpectedly, Dakota didn’t have time to build up her stress about the action.”

Dakota snarled again but did not advance. She glanced down at her paw and rotated it experimentally. When seemingly no pain struck her, she tested putting some weight on it while still remaining laying down. When she was able to put weight on it without any pain, she gingerly stood up and placed all four paws squarely on the floor. She began to walk around. Then she started to trot. Finally, she was bolting around the house, zipping in between chairs and leaping over tables.

“There you go! Feeling better now?” Haruka asked.

Dakota stopped running around, her mouth parted slightly in a small smile. She looked right at Haruka, her ears raised and straining forward, and then dipped her head with her eyes closed. The small bow only lasted for a moment but it made Haruka absolutely glow with pride.

“I want to do one last thing for you, Dakota,” Haruka said, turning around and moving out of the living room, Dakota tilted her head in the direction on Haruka’s retreating back. 

Haruka came back moments later with another woman in tow. Izuku recognized the woman immediately as Emiko from his vision earlier. 

“Midoriya and Dakota, this is my good friend Emiko, the one with the Hobblegrunt dragon! I told her to come over but I had her wait outside just in case things didn’t go as planned. She is here to turn your dog back into a dragon.”

“Wait, she can do that?” Izuku asked, his eyes wide with fascination.

“Well, it was my quirk that turned the dragon into a dog in the first place. Hello, my name is Emiko and my quirk is called Metamorphosis. It is simply a quirk that allows me to transform anything I touch into something else just so long as I know the structure of atoms within that object or organism. It helps me build things from scratch. I am sorry for turning your dragon into a dog, we were being attacked and it was the only thing I could think of to make the situation less dangerous for everyone,” Emiko said.

“It’s alright,” Izuku said, reaching down to absentmindedly stroke Dakota’s ear. 

“Here,” Emiko said, leaning down and holding out her hand for Dakota to smell. Dakota hesitated and growled at first, but then slowly approached Emiko after some gentle nudging from Izuku. Dakota sniffed Emiko’s hand and then backed away, her ears pinned.

“Let’s go outside, I can turn her back out there so that she doesn’t destroy the house,” Emiko said, standing up slowly and pointing one long, slender finger towards the back door.

Dakota began to trot towards that door, her tail bouncing slightly behind her and Emiko followed. Izuku and Haruka glanced at each other before they too made their way out the door and into the large, unfenced backyard. Dakota had a small bounce in her step as she walked, her leg feeling much better after the bone was rehealed, but she was keeping her distance, snapping her jaws a little when Haruka tried to come near. 

Finally, the group stopped near the back of the large field in Haruka’s backyard, Dakota sitting down in the tall grass and everyone else forming a small circle around her. Emiko took a step forward and leaned down once more, holding out her hand again for Dakota to smell. Dakota bared her teeth but still leaned forward to sniff the hand before leaning back and sitting up straight, every muscle in her body, tense. Emiko took a shaky deep breath and then stood up and shuffled over to Dakota’s side, her palm facing outward and her fingertips glowing a soft golden. Moving very slowly so as to avoid spooking the dragon, Emiko pressed her fingers against Dakota’s soft black fur and closed her eyes. The transformation was quick but also very interesting; Izuku watched with almost disturbing fascination as Dakota’s body lengthened and widened, her face changing from the narrow face of a German Shepherd to the widened face of a Night Fury. Her sides and back widened, the fur parting and falling off before disappearing into the grass, surprisingly soft black scales replacing the fur. Large, leathery black wings unfolded from her sides and spread out, the joints popping satisfyingly as if they had been cramped for a long time. Once the transformation was complete, Dakota stood up and shook herself, spreading her wings even more and yawning widely so that her white teeth gleamed in the moonlight. Dakota then resituated herself, tucking her wings at her sides and tilting her head so that she could stare right at the people in front of her, her striking blue eyes sharpening on Izuku. Izuku took a deep breath and took one step forward.

“Hello Dakota, how do you feel?”

Dakota watched him for a second longer before baring her teeth and flattening her ears a little. Izuku took a step forward and raised his hand to touch her muzzle.

“Dakota? What are you-”

Quick as a flash, Dakota suddenly raised her wings and forced them down towards the ground, her body rushing up into the air with the impact from the wind under her wings. 

“Dakota! Wait!” Izuku said, rushing forward. He didn’t know what he meant to do, or even why he wanted her to stay but he ran forward to do something, touch her maybe, but ended up only grasping air. He looked up to see Dakota flap her wings quickly, beating the air around her enthusiastically with a joyful roar before she soared off and away from the group of people on the ground. Izuku watched her fly away, waiting for her to turn around and look at him, or angle her wings so that she could circle back to them. But she just kept flying, faster and farther away from them, from him, without looking back. Izuku watched and waited until she had been swallowed up by the darkness of the deepening night.


	10. The USJ Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I am sorry this is so late in the day for you guys I have just been absolutely swamped with work, school, and horseback riding but I finally found some time to write so here you guy go! The final chapter for Part 1! Part 2 is next Saturday. Thank you for the amazing continued support, I cannot express how much I love all of you! Thanks for everything, and I hope you enjoy!

The night was warm, the sweet air curling around her body and caressing her wings like soft blankets. Dakota closed her eyes and smelled the air as the wind billowed towards her, the bottoms of her wings skimming the tops of the clouds so that the cool, fluffy material soaked into her scales, small water droplets flying off of the tips with each beat of her wings. Her paws were in the clouds and she purred at the cool feeling that wrapped around her legs and flowed in between her claws. She flew all night, the warm darkness chasing away her weariness and the cool breeze lifting her higher into the air. She twisted her right paw slowly and beat her wings once more, testing the once-broken bones for any pain. She felt none. Her chest and back still stung where the clawed traps had latched onto her flesh, but the bandages that the green-haired boy had placed on them had allowed them to heal just enough for it to be ignorable. A strange pang of sadness shot down her spine and burned in her heart for a moment at the thought of the boy, the one kind human that she had ever met in her life, the one human who did not try to capture her for money or try to force her to mate with other dragons in order to expand their wealth. The one human who actually cared.

Dakota shook her head, trying to erase the image of the smiling green-haired boy from her mind. She opened her eyes and growled low in her throat, her eyes narrowing in annoyance. She had been flying on her own for a week, growing prouder with each passing day at her genius plan of letting the boy heal her while also keeping her hidden until she could fly off on her own once more, but even so, the more she tried to forget him, the more he filled her head, his kind eyes piercing her memories like a hot iron that had been pressed into her brain. She roared out into the brightening night and suddenly felt very weary. Beating her wings lazily, Dakota gathered up some of her remaining energy and blasted a large fireball into the sky in front of her, folding her wings and flying directly into the flames. The warm flames enveloped her, roaring over her scales and giving her the cover needed to hide. She was above the clouds and so no lightning effects occurred during the transformation but the flames worked well enough. When she came out of the other side of her own fireball, her scales had changed so that they reflected the sky around her, allowing her to seemingly turn invisible.

As soon as she was positive that she was hidden, she allowed herself to drift lower and lower until she broke beneath the cloud line, her wings angling so that she could land on the branch of a huge oak tree on the outskirts of a nearby forest. Her claws reached out and grasped the rough bark, her wings, raising, above her head to balance herself as she settled on the branch. She grimaced a little as the branch creaked underneath her weight, her eyes roving over the brightening countryside for any sign of a human presence. She was unable to relax until she was one hundred percent sure she was alone, besides the birds and the deer of the forest. Exhaustion washed through her, flooding her legs and wings, causing her eyelids to droop wearily. Deciding that it was safe enough, Dakota settled down on the branch, curling her paws underneath her and allowing her tail to dangle, double-checking that she was still invisible before unconsciousness took over and she fell into a deep slumber.

A sensation similar to that of ice water creeping slowly down her back caused Dakota to jolt awake, her head snapping up in alarm at the feeling, her ears rotating around rapidly to catch any suspicious noises from the environment around her. She saw nothing, the air smelled clean, and the only sounds that met her ears were the whistling of the birds and the swish of the tree leaves in the breeze. And yet, something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones and her muscles ached to move and fly to the source of the problem. That was when she froze, thinking carefully. Since when had she ever wanted to fly towards a problem? Her instincts were normally to fly away and hide, only fighting when absolutely necessary, trying to avoid detection from her previous captors. But now, her instincts had changed. Her mind screamed at her to move, to find the source, and to eradicate the problem. She tried to shake herself out of it, her ears flapping as her head moved from side to side, but her mind refused to drop the idea and she started to grow agitated. Finally, she stopped fighting her strange urges and she took off, her wings flinging her up in the air. 

Dakota shot through the cloud line, her wings folded slightly to move faster. She knew she was still invisible but she hated being out in the open, no matter what, with the sun glaring at her from above her like a hot spotlight. Once she broke through the fluffy clouds, the cool condensation pooling on her scales as she passed through them, she shot another fireball into the sky and flew through it until she had revealed herself once more, her scales returning back to their natural shiny black color. Dakota shook herself as she flew, a slight tingly feeling tickling down her back and sides. She began to fly south, her wings pumping in slight confusion as she tried to figure out which direction to move in. Suddenly, the mark on her forehead began to throb, the swirly figure glowing a faint blue. Dakota threw her wings forward, halting in midair with a pained roar. She paused for a moment before she turned around to fly north, following the slight pull of her marking. As soon as she changed direction, the mark warmed pleasantly, glowing with less strength than before. 

Dakota had no idea what she was doing as she flew north, the wind billowing underneath her wings, her eyes scanning the clouds despite not really being able to see anything. She took her time flying across the countryside, using her natural instincts to direct herself. Suddenly, she felt something prick at her nerves, a sharp tingling that ran up and down her spine like an electric shock. Her eyes widened and her ears pricked, her pupils dilating as the scene of clouds in front of her dissipated and reformed as a new scene, one that she had never seen before. She was in a large dome-like building that was filled with random destroyed mini ships and buildings that were scattered throughout the large space. Some of the buildings were on fire, some were buried beneath sand and mud, and the ship was cracked down the center while sitting in the center of a small lake. Dakota blinked a few times and looked around, trying to clear her head and figure out what was going on. She turned around, her eyes roving over each and every corner of the building until they settled on a group of people who were all standing at the top of a large staircase, above all of the destruction. Immediately, she leaped behind a wrecked building, her wings tucked in close to her body and her teeth bared in a silent snarl. 

She was sure they had seen her, how could they not have? She knew that she was a large creature and that it would be nearly impossible to avoid detection, especially since she was so disoriented. She waited for the sound of shouting and the pounding of boots but nothing came. She peered around the edge of the building and glanced at the people to see that none of them had seen her despite the fact that they were facing her. Dakota tilted her head slightly in confusion and then looked behind her. She felt all of the energy leave her body as her eyes took in the sheer number of people behind her, all of which were holding some sort of weapon. She pinned her ears and whined in pure panic, all of her fighting instincts flying out the window at the sight of the mass of villains standing around a swirling purple vortex. 

“Everyone, stay back! Those are real villains!” A voice called from the top of the stairs. Despite the fact that she practically had to drag her eyes away from the swarms of villains, she managed to peer around the building wreckage again to look up at the group of people at the top of the stairs. She squinted her eyes until the individual figures came into focus, her ears straining for any sound from the villains behind her. She managed to make out a strange-looking human in a giant white suit that bulged out from her sides as if it were made of pillows. This human was standing in front of a group of smaller humans, beside a menacing-looking man in solid black clothes who was holding a long white band from around his neck as if it were a weapon. 

A cold laugh echoed throughout the building that washed over Dakota like a bucket of ice water, the iciness seeped into her bones and froze her to the spot, her mouth parting open slightly in shock. She knew that voice. She whipped her head around to face behind her where the swath of villains were located, and felt her heart nearly stop at the sight of their leader. It was him… the man with the hands covering him from head to toe… he was the one who had tortured her, he was the man who had nearly driven away her sanity, who had killed almost every last Night Fury in an attempt to find her. Because he was the one she was supposedly destined to bond with.

“You think you can protect your students, hero? Against the likes of all of us?”

Another cold laugh followed the comment and Dakota shrank back as much as she possibly could in the cramped space. 

“I will fight to the end if it means I can protect these aspiring heroes,” the woman in the spacesuit called out. 

Dakota swiveled her head back around to look back at the smaller group of people. She peered at all of their faces but it was hard to see them with all of their strange gear and costumes on. Her eyes combed through the group, moving past a spiky blonde boy, a frog-like girl, a boy with strange, purple balls on his head, and then over a girl in a pink, black, and white body-suit with chocolate brown hair. Dakota perked her ears slightly when she saw the girl. She was the sweet girl who had fed her some beef when she was injured. Dakota remembered that the green-haired boy, Izuku, had called her Uraraka. Her tail absentmindedly thumped on the ground twice, but she stopped it before it attracted any unwanted attention. She was still confused as to why she had not been spotted yet despite being in the center of the action, but she decided to not think about it too much and use it to her advantage. Dakota then glanced beside Uraraka and felt her heart skip a beat. It was Izuku. There was no doubt about that green hair and wide eyes. 

Dakota suddenly felt severe panic as she realized everything all at once. Izuku was in trouble. That was what her bonding mark had been trying to warn her of. She didn’t even stop to think as she bolted from her hiding spot and out into the center of the area, half galloping and half flying towards Izuku. She took the stairs six at a time and leaped past all of the other people, ignoring them entirely, her ears roaring and her eyes fogging up as she focused entirely on reaching the boy. She finally made it and reached a protective paw out. She really didn’t know what she meant to do, maybe hold him close to her as a thank you and an apology, maybe to bat him across the head for making her feel attached to him but what she did not expect was for her paws to feel nothing but air. She swiped right through him, Izuku’s body disappearing into swirls of smoke.

Dakota whined in confusion and looked around frantically to find all of the people starting to whisk away. She also realized that none of them were looking at her, as if a giant black dragon had not just run in front of them and try to hug one of the students in the group. The building also began to fade until she could once more see clouds in front of her. She whipped her head around back and forth, searching for the people and the villains and the destroyed buildings, only to find empty sky and a large, spanning blanket of clouds below her. She blinked rapidly and shook her head, her entire body trembling with nerves. She calmed herself after a few minutes of breathing and collecting her thoughts. She managed to keep herself in the air as well despite the fact that her wings were trembling and twitching. Once she felt calmer, she narrowed her eyes and changed course slightly. Izuku was in danger and no matter what grudge she held against humans, she was in his debt. Pumping her wings with greater fervor, Dakota aimed for the edge of a forest where a giant meadow bled from the treeline and led the way to a charming little cabin.

______________________________________________________

Haruka stood at the kitchen sink washing some of the dishes from the previous night’s dinner, staring out the window at the swaying grasses and the proud trees of the forest beyond, thinking about the Night Fury. The one that got away. Cassian brought her out of her reverie with a soft squawking noise and a gentle nudge to her shoulder. Haruka smiled and rubbed the eagle’s head with the tip of her finger.

“Sorry buddy, I know we haven’t had a lot of time together, I am just desperately trying to find that Night Fury. You know how important it is that we find her, both for her sake and for young Midoriya’s,” Haruka said sadly. 

Cassian closed his eyes and dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment.

“I promise that as soon as we find her, we can hang out more but in the mean-time, we can go on one flight today but I want to then get back to focusing on where she may have gone.”

Cassian nodded and took off, leaving small scratches on the kitchen counter as he made his way across the hall to a wooden post for him to land on. His wings fluttered as he settled himself on the wood, his talons curling in slightly. Tucking in his wings, the regal bird chirped a little and looked out the window in front of Haruka, gazing at the blue sky. Haruka went back to washing dishes, her eyes downcast and her nimble finger drifting over each plate with warm suds. Cassian was about to turn his head to take a short nap when something small caught his eye. The bird tilted his head at the window and peered sharply into the sky where a tiny black dot had suddenly appeared. The black dot was getting closer and closer until his sharp eagle eyes were able to define the shape in the sky. His heart leaped into his mouth in excitement and Cassian squawked loudly.

Haruka turned to face him and he tittered on the wooden post a little, his beak parted in a small smile.

“I am sorry Cassian but I’ve already told you, we have to wait until later to go flying. I am almost done with the dishes but you have to wait,” She said. 

The bird shook his regal head and screeched again. Haruka suddenly felt a soft tug on the edge of her mind, as if someone had suddenly built a small bridge across it and she felt Cassian’s warmth in her head. A deep, growly male voice filled her head as Cassian spoke to her. 

“Look out the window; at the sky,” Cassian purred. “Someone finally decided to crash the party.”

Haruka whipped around and Cassian smirked a little as he saw her eyes widen in shock and excitement. She didn’t even respond before bolting out the door to meet the Night Fury, who was darting for them at the speed of a rocket. Cassian did not need any prompting to follow and took off after his bonded dragon rider, his eyes shining. The dragon got closer and all of a sudden, Cassian’s smile disappeared and the gleam in his eye was replaced with something slightly darker as he realized that something was very wrong. She was flying out in the open without any cover and she was beating her wings rapidly.

“Haruka, something is wrong,” Cassian whispered into the bridge of their minds and he felt a gentle caress, like wind blowing across an old wooden fence in the fall, against his mind to show that she had heard him.

Dakota finally landed heavily on the ground and trotted quickly towards the pair, her eyes wide and her chest heaving with exhaustion. Cassian approached her immediately, flying up to her to land on her muzzle. Dakota tensed but held still as the eagle glared at her before giving a low growl.

“What is wrong?” He asked gently.

“I’m not really sure,” Dakota answered. “I was asleep but I was shocked awake by this feeling of panic. I went for a fly to try and clear my head but just ended up experiencing a vision. The green-haired boy is in danger, the one who saved me.”

Cassian nodded and turned back to Haruka, his voice echoing in her mind.

“Midoriya is in danger, let’s go.”

“I’ll get Emiko,” Haruka said and dashed off, her boots thudding heavily on the ground as she ran, leaving the dragons to sit impatiently and wait.

____________________________________________________

Dakota crouched low to the ground as she moved, her tail swishing behind her and her ears constantly rotating. She had not been too keen on being turned into a dog again but she knew that it would be the best form of disguise for her. She prowled through some bushes and peered through them at the gates of the huge building, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of it. She had described the details of the dome-like building to Haruka and she had informed her that it was a training ground for aspiring heroes and that Izuku and his class were on a field trip there at the moment. Cassian and Haruka had given her the directions to get there and although she had tried to leave right then and there, Emiko had proposed a new idea. Dakota glanced once more at the giant U.A. sign that stood proudly at the center of the gate, before moving carefully out into the open. 

The security gates to the school had been temporarily destroyed by a bunch of nosy reporters a few days earlier and so although it was open, there were a few guards that remained standing on either side. Dakota kept them noted before looking around to her left to see Emiko and Cassian. Cassian remained in his eagle form but Emiko pressed a palm to her chest and let her quirk reassemble her body until she had reformed into the shape of a small tabby cat. Dakota nodded once and immediately the two were sent into action, Emiko running out of the bush with her fur ruffled and her teeth bared into a snarl. Cassian screeched and chased the seemingly frazzled cat, leaning down as if to snatch her in his talons before lifting up at the last second and circling low to the ground once more. Emiko hissed and spat and ran right for the gates. The guards tried to redirect her but Cassian flew right in their faces, giving Dakota just enough time to slip in. As soon as she was out of sight, Cassian and Emiko ran off, Cassian continuing to pretend to capture her. 

“Jesus… that was something wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I guess it is part of the job.”

Dakota perked her ears at their conversation to make sure she had not been discovered before she shook herself and ran towards the building. Dakota galloped at the doors, her paws drumming wildly on the pavement. Suddenly, a medium-sized object splat down in front of her. Dakota looked up to see Cassian circling above her. He let out a squawk and she replied back with a bark before leaning down and grabbing the hero notebook from the ground. Cassian had flown to Izuku’s home and snatched it while the others debriefed on the plan. 

Dakota pushed open the doors with her nose and body, looking around skeptically for any sign of a trap. When she had determined that the coast was clear, she trotted quickly into the hallway and padded towards down a hall where she heard voices. The voices got louder and louder as she walked and she paused several feet away, her fear of humans taking over her movement. She hesitated as one person laughed loudly and boisterously from inside a room at the end of the hall but shook herself to clear her head. Taking a deep breath, Dakota galloped down the hall and skidded to a stop at the door with a loud bark. She set the notebook on the ground as the voices faltered, and she leaped up to touch the door with her paws, jumping backward and barking loudly.

“Is that a dog…?” Someone asked before opening the door.

The person who opened the door almost sent Dakota running, but she planted her paws and barked again, louder this time to a tall, lanky blonde-haired man with a yellow suit.

“Present Mike? What is going on over there?”

“It’s a dog, Nedzu.”

“How did the dog get in here?”

“I don’t really know…”

The tall man kneeled and held his hand out a little. Dakota wanted nothing more than to shrink away and growl but she forced herself to smell and then lightly lick the tip of his knuckle.

“She seems friendly enough,” He said in a loud voice. “Hey sweet one, what are you doing here?” The man tried to pet her but she backed away and barked again, twirling in a circle and grabbing Izuku’s notebook. She let out a muffled bark and twirled again, her ears rotating wildly.

“Hey… is that… Midoriya’s book?” Present Mike asked, reaching down and gently taking it from her. Dakota whined and paced up and down the hall, running half-way down and then back up with a bark. She finally looked at the man dead in the eyes and tilted her head in the direction of the exit, whining slightly.

“Nedzu, I think we need to go check on Aizawa and the students,” Present Mike said apprehensively.

“Now, now, let’s not get too crazy,” a new voice said followed by the appearance of a rat/dog/bear cross in a suit and tie. “Aizawa and Thirteen are more than capable pros, you need to finish your lesson planning.”

“But this dog…”

“Don’t worry about the dog, I will tend to it,” Principle Nedzu said.

“Oh alright…” Present Mike turned to leave when the dog launched at him and grabbed the cuff of his pant leg in her teeth. Present Mike paused and she tugged on it slightly before dropping it and making a circle with another whine.

Nedzu tilted his head and twirled his tail.

“You know what, Present Mike? I think maybe we should go check on those kids…”

____________________________________________

Dakota led the way down the sidewalks and across the streets. She galloped the entire way, her paws bleeding from the constant friction. Her ears were pinned as she ran and she flinched in pain but she refused to give up, this was nothing compared to some of the other things she had been forced to endure. She could sense herself getting nearer and just as some of the teachers were beginning to complain about the long-distance and how they were just on a wild goose chase with a dog, a tall teenager shot around the corner, smoke roiling from his calves. Dakota yelped and skidded to a stop before leaping off of the pavement and bounding into the brush beside her, hiding in the plants. 

“Iida?” Present Mike asked.

“Present Mike! Nedzu! All Might! Everyone! We have been attacked by villains, they have cut off our communication system so we have been unable to contact anyone but my fellow classmates are fighting for their lives in the USJ!”

The teachers glanced at each other and then took off with Iida, tearing down the sidewalk towards the dome building. Despite the fact that her part was basically over, she felt a strange need to watch them, to make sure they actually got there to save the boy and repay her debt so she followed them at a slightly slower pace, giving her paws a rest. 

__________________________________________________

Izuku didn’t know what to do. All Might was bleeding from the side, he had defeated the Nomu but he was exhausted and his time in his muscle form was wearing thin, the smoke from around him just barely masking the smoke that was coming off of his body. The amazing hero was trying to get the villains to secede but so far they refused to leave, just standing there clenching their fists and shaking with barely suppressed anger.

“You cheated…” A scratchy voice called out as the owner of the voice reached up with cold, dead-looking hands to scratch at his already very irritated neck. Suddenly, just as the hand villain began to get worked up, the villain who had teleported the whole group of villains here leaned down and whispered something to his childish boss.

“Ahhhh yes I guess I could settle for that idea…” Suddenly, the hand villain leaped at All Might with furious force, like an angry cat leaping at an unsuspecting mouse. All Might got into a weak fighting position but really had no idea what to do as the man came flying at him with his rotting hands outstretched. Before the villain could even get half-way to All Might, Izuku was in the air, getting ready to aim a full-fledged punch at the man. A purple vortex bloomed in front Izuku just as the man looked over in surprise which had Izuku looking right into the dead hands. The villain began to laugh as the obvious fear lit up Izuku’s features, his hand starting to close on Izuku’s face…

The villain’s arm jerked on the spot, away from Izuku’s face and flailing back in the wrong direction. The villain screamed as three more bullets made it to each of his limbs before a large purple vortex swathed over him as a shield.

“They’re here!” All Might groaned in exhaustion as the other U.A. teachers made themselves known on the front step by the doors. Iida stood panting in the middle of the group, his glasses sliding down his nose as she shouted out to his classmates. Izuku lay on the ground, his legs once more broken but his friends and mentor were safe and that was all he cared about.

_______________________________________________

Izuku and all of the other students and staff who had been at the USJ were admitted to a hospital as soon as all of the villains had been arrested and contained. His legs were pretty easy to fix and so although he was still pretty shaken up, he was able to go home at the end of the day. He walked home with his friends after they had been released but they remained in an uneasy silence compared to their normal bright chattiness. Izuku coughed awkwardly as they walked and glanced at Iida.

“Congrats today, Iida! You really pulled off the timing today with getting the teachers to come and help us out,” Izuku said with a weak smile.

“Yeah, I was actually really lucky though, I met the teachers half-way there, they were already on their way.”

“Oh, really?” Ochako piped up from Izuku’s right side.

“Yeah. When I asked them how they had known about the attack, they said that a strange dog had come and alerted them by barking and running to the exit and back. Principle Nedzu said that they had almost ignored it but decided to check it out. Seems like a good thing considering with would have happened had they not showed up.”

“A dog?” Izuku asked incredulously. His mind immediately shot to Dakota at this thought. He had been trying to keep thoughts of the dragon out of his mind, his emotions and mental capabilities already plenty busy with school and making friends and becoming a good hero. But he knew that he would never forget her completely. He hadn’t been sleeping well ever since she left and in the dark loneliness of the night, he often thought about her no matter how hard he tried to shove them out of his brain.

Izuku left his friends at the train station, waving goodbye and then turning to go to his home. He sighed as the evening breeze kissed his cheeks, and he ran a nervous hand through his hair, his eyes averted to the ground as he thought about the attack. Finally, Izuku rounded a corner and made it to his side of the street. He looked up to reach for the door when he stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting there, holding his hero notebook gently in her jaws, was the dog form of Dakota. The two stared at each other for a moment. She tilted her head and looked him over, her eyes trailing all over him for wounds. When she was satisfied she met his gaze again, her blue eyes sparkling brightly at him. Izuku suddenly felt a gentle caress down his mind and he gasped at the strange sensation. 

“W-welcome b-b-back Dakota,” Izuku said in a tone that was a mix of angry, relieved, grateful, and excited.

“T-Thank you,” She responded in his mind, her sweet, soft voice filling his head pleasantly. Izuku gasped and she growled but she padded up to him anyway, her head held up high. She made it to his side before she pressed her muzzle into his hand and sighed.

“It feels good to be home.”


	11. Surprise Trip

Dakota was still rather apprehensive around Izuku but she was definitely less aggressive and more willing to be around him. Izuku tried his best to be supportive of her no matter what, slowly learning more about her based on what she chose to reveal to him. Granted, that wasn’t much but he would take anything he could get. He did not pester her on why she had originally left him or what she did while she was out on her own or even how she knew about the villain attack in the first place, but allowed her to get used to being in a cramped apartment once more. She remained in her dog form most of the time and she was learning more and more how to be friendly, but in the few times that she came out of the house to tag along to Haruka’s cabin and allowed Emiko to turn her back into a dragon, she became skittish and downright aggressive, often flying off with a snarl and coming back a few hours later, panting heavily and sweating from exertion. Izuku again did not question this but was starting to worry about her and was still trying to grasp the rules of a dragon bond. 

Ever since Izuku had found Dakota sitting on his doorstep with his notebook in her mouth, the two had not spoken again. Izuku’s mind felt oddly alone without her warm presence there, even when she was in the same room. He did not try to push this either, he hated the strange feeling on walking on thin ice with her but he didn’t want to scare her away.

Now, Izuku was sitting at his desk attempting to finish his homework while Dakota slept peacefully at his feet. He felt an inkling of pride at the thought that she was comfortable enough to sleep beside him so willingly and so he remained completely still as he worked, only moving to scratch his pencil across the notebook paper in front of him. He got some of his work done, but his mind just kept wandering back to the mysterious creature, her sudden aggression in her dragon form as well as her strange displays of affection towards him. Izuku scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, his eyes closing in consideration. He knew what he wanted to say to her, but he just didn’t know when and how to bring it up. Finally, he opened his eyes and slowly leaned forward, pulling out his phone after checking that Dakota was still asleep. He pulled up his messages and found Haruka’s number, which had been given to him just before Dakota left him.

Deku: Haruka? Hello, sorry it is late, I just can’t stop thinking about Dakota. I am worried about her, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t think I will be able to handle it very well if she flies off again… but she is still so aggressive in her dragon form, it makes me uneasy, but I feel like I can’t get to her.

He waited for his phone to buzz but didn’t expect an answer since it was close to midnight. To his surprise, she texted him back immediately.

Haruka: Meet me two weeks from now. Start at my house, then we will go somewhere special. Bring Dakota, I know exactly how to help you both.

Deku: Thank you, sounds great! Where are we going?

Izuku waited for a response but she left him on read. He shrugged and placed his phone down. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to go back to his remaining homework, his pencil hanging suspended above his paper. 

The warm caress in the mind shocked him so much that he physically jolted in his seat. Immediately, the touch retracted a little, coiling away from his mind as if it had been burned, and it took a moment for Izuku to calm down before that little tendril of warmth began to envelop his consciousness again. Izuku glanced down to see Dakota staring right at him, her eyes opened wide and bright. He had been so sure that she was in a deep sleep that seeing her sharp eyes staring up at him made him feel a little exposed, as if he had been caught doing something wrong.

Dakota did not speak to him, but the question in her gaze was clear. Izuku sighed and reached down to stroke her ears. 

“Good girl Dakota, I promise, we will get this unusual situation figured out,” He said. Dakota leaned into his touch for just a moment but pulled away soon after, standing up to shake herself and pad away to lay down on the pile of blankets she called her bed. Izuku yawned and gave up on the rest of his homework, concluding that he would finish it in the morning. Izuku fell asleep but was restless throughout the night, his mind clouded with questions.

__________________________________________

The school day had gone by both tantalizingly slowly and as quick as a flash, giving Izuku an almost dizzy feeling as he made his way up the drive to the little cabin, his boots crunching on the twigs that lined the path. The two weeks had flown by, the intense workloads from school keeping Izuku busy so that he barely had time to ponder where Haruka was taking them. Now though, as he walked up the trail with Dakota padding at his side, his mind was running wild with ideas. He mounted the steps leading up to the door and raised his fist to knock when the door flew open, revealing an overexcited Haruka, standing over him with Cassian resting gently on her shoulder in his eagle form. 

“Hello, Haruka! Where are we-”

Haruka cut him off by walking past him but beamed at him as she passed, beckoning to him with a thin, pale hand. Haruka trotted over to her truck and opened the back of it, motioning for Izuku and Dakota to hop in. Dakota hesitated, ducking behind Izuku’s legs and growling at the truck. Izuku knew that since she had had limited flying time, she enjoyed riding in the car deep down as it replicated that feeling a little bit but also understood her skepticism. He reached down and placed a soothing hand on her head. Dakota still seemed tense so Izuku decided to try something. He did not know exactly how this was supposed to work but he decided to try it anyway to soothe her.

Izuku closed his eyes and pictured how it felt when it happened to him. He reached out with his mind, almost like a long tendril and snaked that tendril down to the bridge that he knew represented his bond with Dakota. Izuku then pushed that tendril over the bridge until he felt a large wall blocking his path. He thought for a moment before deciding to use the tendril to stroke the outside of the wall. The wall shuddered and almost distantly, he felt Dakota relax behind him. He opened his eyes again to see Haruka standing directly in front of him, her face lit up with excitement. 

“Did you just reach out to her through the bond?”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, rubbing a nervous hand on the back of his neck. “I thought it would soothe her if I comforted her both physically and mentally.”

Haruka’s smile widened and she placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“You are a good kid, young Midoriya,” She said, directing him, and therefore Dakota as well, to the truck. Izuku climbed in and patted the seat beside him for Dakota who was still nervous but complied. Haruka shut the door and got into the driver’s seat to start the vehicle.

“Emiko will be joining us once we get there,” Haruka said.

“Alright,” Izuku replied. “Haruka? Where are we going?”

Haruka only smiled at him as she pulled out of the drive.

“It’s a surprise.”

__________________________________________________

Emiko was waiting for them when they pulled up to the edge of a forest, one that was completely different from the one sitting on the edge of Haruka’s backyard. This forest was dark and cold but not unwelcoming. The trees were huge but they were so close together that the sun had trouble peeking through which gave the area its darker aura.

Izuku hopped out of the truck with Dakota in tow, stretching his arms high above his head with a groan. He was thankful that it was a Saturday, the drive had been six hours long, there was no way he would've been able to get home in time to finish his homework and get a good night sleep had he had school the next day. Dakota shook herself once her paws hit the ground and she lifted her head up to sniff the air curiously.

“Hello, Emiko!” Haruka called as her friend trotted up to them. When Emiko got closer, Izuku and Dakota noticed that she had a small bearded dragon sitting on her shoulder, its tail wrapped loosely around Emiko’s throat.

“Hey, Haruka! Hello Izuku, Dakota, what’s going on?”

“We are here for bond training!” Haruka beamed happily, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet as she approached her friend. Haruka gave Emiko a hug and patted the bearded dragon once she had pulled back.

“Bond training?” Izuku asked, excitement and anxiety coursing through his veins.

“Yep!” Haruka glanced at Izuku but then turned back to Emiko and nodded once. “Follow me.”

Izuku considered arguing, the lack of a jacket starting to worry the young teen as the chill sank into his skin and made his hair rise. He rubbed his arms and let out a shaky breath but followed anyway, forsaking the idea of staying behind. Dakota followed Izuku without question but he could practically feel the tension radiating off of her, her ears constantly rotating and her teeth bared just slightly.

The group walked through the forest in silence, moving through the foliage and crossing the occasional rivers that barred their paths. They walked for almost an hour, their breathing coming out in pants and their faces covered in sweat. Despite the exercise, the chill sank its fangs into Izuku’s skin and refused to let go, drying his sweat with a frosty breeze that caused the droplets to freeze on his skin. He began to shake, his movements slowing.

“Alright!” Haruka called from ahead of him. “We are here!”

Izuku sighed and used the last of his energy to jog up the hill to meet Haruka and Emiko. Dakota and Izuku crested the hill and peered down into the valley below, expecting some kind of unique detail that would have justified Haruka dragging them all the way out there. Dakota tilted her head and Izuku felt his lips part ever so slightly in confusion. It was just a normal valley, maybe even less interesting than other valleys Izuku had seen. The land was barren and barely covered in grass. There were almost zero trees in the area and the wind was howling so loudly that it resembled the dull roar of a pained dragon.

“Haruka wha-”

Izuku cried out in surprise as Cassian, in under ten seconds, leaped off of Haruka’s shoulder and landed on the ground in his dragon form, only to push Izuku off the edge and into the valley below. Dakota galloped to the edge and roared down into the bowl of land, worry lacing her cry. She turned to snarl at Cassian when the huge bone dragon leaned down and grabbed her by the back of her neck gently. Dakota yelped in surprise just as Emiko leaned forward and placed her fingers on Dakota’s flank. Cassian then leaned back and tossed Dakota unceremoniously over the edge, her body changing back into her dragon form as she flew through the air. She landed heavily on the forest floor and immediately leaped up to her feet, turning to roar with pure fury at the bone dragon and the two women standing beside him. Izuku pushed himself to his feet as well, and both tried to make their way to climb back up the hillside, sore, tired, hungry, and frustrated. 

Izuku placed one foot on the base of the hill and immediately felt the land lurch beneath him, throwing him back. He cried out but suddenly felt a firm weight beneath him. He felt his body lift back up and he was able to plant his feet down on the ground. Izuku turned around and saw that Dakota had caught him when he had fallen, but she growled at him as soon as he was balanced and prowled away, along the base of the hill. Izuku looked back up at Haruka and Emiko to see that while he had been looking down, the bearded dragon had transformed into her real dragon form, a small Hobblegrunt dragon with yellow scales. The dragon had both of her paws on the top of the hill and small ripples were flowing from them, changing the landscape around them. The hill had lengthened and arched so that long spikes of rock curved over them like dome, the sharp spikes as well as the deep arch of the landscape creating a cage that was impossible to escape from. 

Izuku felt his heart leap into his throat, fear slipping through his bloodstream. Had Haruka been lying? Was she actually out to get Dakota all along? Izuku moved quickly over to Dakota and placed a protective arm in front of her, his breathing getting faster and harsher as he stared through the sharp rocks up at Haruka and Emiko.

“Haruka! What is going on?” Izuku called, hoping with every fiber of his being that this was all just some big misunderstanding.

“This is an exercise that every person in this area who is bonded to a dragon has undergone. It is a test of your connection and it will help you figure each other out. I did this with Cassian when I was young, and although it was tough, it was worth it. When I did it, we were forced to go deeper into the forest so that we would get lost but Kame here, Emiko’s dragon, has an environmental manipulation quirk which has allowed me to trap you in one place instead.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Izuku called.

“You are going to stay here until you two can work together as a team. You will be responsible for taking care of one another such as getting food for one another, keeping each other warm at night, etc. I will check up on you both every day but you will stay here until I deem that you two have crossed the line that you have inadvertently drawn between you two.”

“But what about my mother? What about school?” 

“Well, it is the weekend,” Haruka said with a smirk. “But if you can’t get past this before the weekend ends then I am going to send in a note that you are sick and bring your assignments for you. As for your mother, she thinks that you are on an extended weekend school trip.”

“You did what!?”

“Yep! I promise this is necessary, everything will be fine, just follow your instincts!” Haruka smiled at him and waved just as she turned to leave.

“Haruka! Emiko! Cassian! Wait!” Izuku shouted, trying to run up the side of the valley wall only to slide back down pitifully. The group at the top merely waved him off before leaving, Cassian’s tail being the last thing Izuku saw of them as they disappeared. Izuku called out again but they ignored him, walking off to do who knows what. Izuku eventually came to the frustrating conclusion that they were not coming back and gave up trying to call them back. He turned back to the center of the valley to where Dakota was pacing anxiously, her wings folded in tightly at her sides and her floppy ears constantly rotating. Her eyes were sharp and roved over every surface in the forest, looking for a way out of the cage that had been built by the Hobblegrunt dragon. 

Izuku sighed and tried to approach Dakota, reaching a tentative hand out to soothe her. Although he had been hoping that, considering their current situation, she would abandon her strange tendency to become aggressive when in her dragon form, he was not surprised when Dakota flinched and snapped at him, bolting across to the other side of the valley and drifting down to a lone grass patch far away from him. This was going to be a long day…


	12. Closer Still

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it is late, I have been busy once again, but I have a very interesting chapter for everyone so I hope you enjoy! Sorry if there is any confusion on the set up of this story, I've decided to just keep adding chapters to this story for now and maybe make this a series later as I think I caused some confusion earlier by adding another section to this but continuing the main plot there. So as to avoid further confusion, I have just deleted that file and added the new chapters here! Sorry for all of the moving around, hopefully this is better now! Thank you for the continued support! I love all of my readers so much!

That night, the forest seemingly turned to ice, the wind howling amongst the trees and burning Izuku’s skin like freezing fire and the darkness of the night creating a suffocating feeling in that valley, as the trees were too clumped together to allow much moonlight to filter through their branches. Izuku had brought nothing but the clothes on his back for this trip, not expecting to have to stay outside for hours, which at the moment seemed like nothing more than two pieces of paper taped to his body. The wind ripped through his clothes as if they were not even there and clawed at his body like a savage animal. Izuku could not believe that a place could be this cold in the middle of August but the burn of the icy wind was very real, forcing him to clutch his own body for warmth. He glanced over to where Dakota was laying, her thick scales protecting her from the cold of the wind so that she was able to comfortably lay down on the ground at the far end of the valley where she had burned a small circular spot on the ground for herself. He had been trying the make contact with her all day but something about when she is in her dragon form made her turn aggressive and fearful, always running from him or snapping her jaws at him menacingly.

Izuku let out a shivery breath and pulled himself slowly to his knees so that he could drag himself to the base of a small lone tree in the center of the valley floor. He pressed his back up against it and huddled on the spot, pulling his knees as close as possible to his body for warmth. Suddenly, as he sat there, hoping but not believing that sleep would overtake him so that he could find some form of warmth in the morning, a fat raindrop landed on his nose. His eyes widened in shock but soon changed as his face contorted painfully. Rain was not going to warm things up and he didn’t know how much colder his body would allow him to get. Despite his frustrations, the rain began to come splattering down anyway until it was pouring in the small, cold valley. Izuku could barely think in the cold, his body almost frozen in place and his eyes closed in pain. His whole body was wet and his clothes stuck to his body, clinging to him so that even if the rain were to stop he would remain drenched. 

Dakota seemingly ignored the rain. She did not move from her spot curled up under a larger thicket of trees and her eyes remained tightly closed but really, she was having a terrible argument with herself. She whined slightly as she considered whether or not she should move to help Izuku or not, wanting to help him after everything he had done for her, but also feeling too afraid, he was a human after all. She knew it was absurd to treat him this way, especially after everything they had been through together, but in her dog form, she could forget that she was the most wanted dragon on the planet. She could forget that she was supposedly the last of her kind. She could forget about having to hide all the damn time. But now that she was in her dragon form, she was reminded clearly of what she was, what kind of a danger she brought to those around her. She growled to herself and squeezed her eyes even tighter as she tried to ignore all thoughts about the boy behind her. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Izuku glanced over at Dakota once but knew there was no point in trying to reconcile with her in these conditions. The icy rain bit into his flesh and sank its fangs even deeper into him with every passing moment. He hugged himself tighter and considered the possibility of frostbite or hypothermia in this weather. His mind wandered as he suffered through the cold, running through questions about why Haruka had left them stranded here, if she was even to be trusted in the first place, and how to get closer to Dakota, but his brain was just left exhausted and confused after he had mulled over possible solutions for a while. Izuku could not stop shaking. His whole body was numb and on fire at the same time. He could not remember being this cold and miserable in his life. He thought back to his warm, comfy bed with a warm meal from his mother. His stomach growled at the thought and Izuku had to bite his tongue to keep from groaning in longing. Uncurling his legs to try to get rid of the strange tingling feeling that was now running up and down the backs of his calves, Izuku rolled over and tried to make himself comfortable on the rain-soaked forest floor. He felt his hair mat to the side of his head as rested it on the soggy ground but he was starting to lose his grip on common sense, his mind only focused on the terrible freezing rainwater that dragged its claws down his back and tore at his ears and hands. Izuku squeezed his eyes shut and desperately tried to sleep, hoping that then, the pain would go away.

Izuku yelped aloud when he felt something actually nip the base of his neck. The thing that had bitten him continued to hold on very gently to the flesh on the back on his neck but paused at his alarmed cry. After a moment passed, Izuku felt his body start to be dragged backward a little. He thought about fighting it, but his muscles felt stiff and paralyzed to the point that he just let himself be dragged through the mud. The thing dragged him for a short distance before dropping him. Normally, he would’ve used this as a chance to escape his captor, but he could’ve sworn that the rain had frozen his bones. He groaned and tried to move anyway, pain shooting throughout his body as his muscles ached at the action. Suddenly, a warm caress ran itself down his mind. Izuku jolted on the spot but relaxed immediately afterward, recognizing the tendril of warmth that wove its way through his consciousness, comforting him. She had come back. Izuku managed to turn himself around to see her large silhouette looming above him. Dakota watched him for a moment longer before completely making up her mind.

Reaching down, Dakota grasped the back of his shirt in her teeth and lifted Izuku completely off the ground. In the back of his mind, Izuku was a little afraid that the shirt would rip but it remained intact as she lifted him. When she set him back on the ground, although he had expected to feel the soggy forest floor once more, he felt a firm, warm surface underneath him instead. Izuku looked down to see a large, black leathery surface, and felt his heart leap into his throat with the realization that he was sitting on her wing. He looked up to see Dakota watching him with her teeth slightly bared, daring him to do anything stupid. Dakota then resituated herself down on the soaked, muddy ground and used her second wing to wrap around Izuku’s frozen body, the surprisingly smooth scales protecting him from the blasting wind outside. Izuku sat there, stunned, unsure of what to do when a large black paw reached out and dragged him to her belly so that his back was pressed up against her. Izuku was unsure if he was dreaming or not, that is, until he felt a sudden warmth erupt along his back. His whole body rolled around to look behind him to find a little bit of steam coming off of her belly. Izuku gingerly held up a hand to her stomach and felt the waves of heat rolling off the surface of her scales. She was creating heat with her fire breath in her stomach, for him. Izuku felt tears well up in his eyes and he wiped them away quickly before settling himself between her paws to lean against her back. Izuku heard a small movement outside and knew it was her tail curling around her body in a neat little ball, as if to protect him further. Izuku felt more tears prick at his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back. Suddenly deciding to be bold, Izuku reached out and grasped one of her paws in his hands, holding it close to his chest. He felt her breath hitch and he was tempted to throw her paw away from him and apologize but he held onto her, gently but firmly.

“Thank you. I understand why you are so skittish in your dragon form. I know how much this means to you, helping me out despite your instincts screaming at you to just kill me and get as far away as possible. Thank you, for everything,” Izuku tightened his grip just barely as he spoke, trying to show his appreciation through both his words and his actions. Dakota froze for a second but eventually relaxed, slowly, and he felt another gentle caress in his mind. 

“Dakota?” Izuku asked aloud after a short while of silence. He did not expect a response but he thought he might as well try to get to know her a little, at least since she was willing to let him be this close to her at the moment.

“...Yes…?” Dakota answered after almost a full minute of tense silence. The voice echoed in his mind. Izuku knew that she had not actually said anything aloud, but to him, it sounded as she was speaking right into his ear. He shivered at the sound of her sweet voice.

“Are you cold?”

“...Yes…” 

“Then why shield me with your body?”

“Because there is no point in both of us being cold, that’s illogical,” Dakota said.

“But why use your body? Why not dig me a hole in the ground, or cover me with tree branches?”

Dakota was silent.

“Because you are not evil. Not like him,” She said in a voice that was barely even a whisper.

“Who? Who do you know that is evil?” Izuku asked.

“Do… d-do you trust me?” Dakota asked.

“Yes,” Izuku answered back without hesitation.

Dakota sighed, the sound vibrating Izuku’s entire body.

“Alright then, let me show you,” She growled. Izuku did not know what to do so he just remained still as he felt her warm caress once more. The warm tendril that connected them through their bond suddenly wrapped around his mind, spreading its warmth until Izuku had the urge to reach back. Izuku closed his eyes and used his own connection to the bond to reach out and intertwine with her connection. As soon as he reached out to her, her connection beckoned his over the bridge that formed their bond, tugging him along. Izuku felt warm and cold, tired and energetic, hungry and full. He was confused but kept following Dakota’s lead until they reached a looming black wall in her consciousness. 

“What is this?” Izuku asked.

“Memories,” Dakota answered.

Without being asked, Izuku reached out with the bond and stroked the outside of the wall, searching for a way in. Suddenly, the wall cracked and broke down the center almost like a large pair of doors opening for him. Izuku sent the bond inside almost without thinking. Instantly, a barrage of images flooded his brain, flashing and dashing across his mind in a whirl of colors. The flash of images stopped after a second and paused on one. Izuku realized very quickly that what he was being shown was a specific memory. 

The beautiful scene of a forest on the side of the mountain spread out before Izuku, revealing a warm sun that shined its rays down on the still dewy morning grass. The trees were almost entirely pines, but there were a few others that towered above him to reach for a crystal blue sky. A shift of movement in the corner of Izuku’s eye caused him to turn around to see what was obviously Dakota as a baby. She was so small back then and her body was almost entirely free of scars of injuries. Her wings looked silky to the touch and her blue eyes were sparkling with mischief. The baby Night Fury bounded through the undergrowth, her tail wagging as she pounced on various things with her oversized paws. She raised her head and barked out a little roar. Another Night Fury, one who was slightly smaller than Dakota with bright green eyes and a slightly lighter shade of black scales bounded out of the brush with a dead mouse in his teeth. 

Izuku tilted his head as he observed the pair, the baby Dakota trotting over to her friend and wagging her tail in approval at his catch. The two baby dragons then moved to stand beside each other and started to walk away from the spot together, their bodies so close that their wings were almost touching. The scene dissolved and rebuilt itself in front of Izuku’s eyes so quickly that he had to shake his head to allow himself to readjust to the pacing. He stopped shaking his head and looked around once the scene had rebuilt itself. He felt the blood rush from his face as he was able to see the horror in front of him. Izuku saw a slightly older baby Dakota being held by the back of the neck by a large, heavily built man. The man was laughing as Dakota tried to bite and scratch at him, her roars of fear and anger getting weaker and weaker as the man jostled her around as if she were nothing more than a doll. The man finally stopped playing with her and threw Dakota into a cage that was about the size of a small cat kennel with three other baby Night Furies, including the one he had seen hanging out with her in the previous memory. Despite knowing that it was a memory, Izuku took a step forward, ready to take a stand against the man when he felt his boot slide in something. Izuku managed to catch himself but had to stop from vomiting once he saw what he had stepped in.

Lying on the ground was a Light Fury, and Izuku had just slipped in the blood that was pooling from its wounds. The dragon was obviously dead but Izuku still felt as if he needed to save it. He kneeled down and placed his hand on the dragon’s head. The dragon did nothing. Izuku looked up and around to find something, anything to use to help the long gone dragon when he felt his eyes widen in shock. Night Furies and Light Furies, all dead, were lying all over the once gorgeous mountainside forest. All of them were adults and upon further inspection, Izuku realized that all of the babies had been shoved into kennels and cages to be taken away while their parents had been slain where they stood. 

Izuku clenched his fists and wanted so badly to get revenge on the men but stayed calm. This was a memory, he was only here to observe and store information. 

“All done here boss! I think we got them all, that is every single Night Fury pup in this pack! We have scoured this forest over and over again and this looks to be the last of them,” the man who had been messing with Dakota earlier said, patting one of the kennels he had just loaded onto a huge cart. 

“Very good…” a chilling, slightly familiar voice said coldly from the shadows. 

Izuku could not suppress his cry of shock as a slightly younger Shigaraki stepped out from where he had been obscured from view. 

“This is my destiny,” the memory Shigaraki said as he ran a bony finger down the bars of Dakota’s cage with a vicious smile plastered on his face. “You will bring me my victory against the heroes. My victory against all of them,” He cackled. 

The memory dissipated completely just as Izuku was about to leap into action, and he found himself curled up on Dakota’s wing with his back pressed up against her belly. He woke with a start and found himself to be panting heavily. He looked around wildly as if expecting Shigaraki to come out of the shadows at any minute. Finally, he got himself pulled together a little.

“That wasn’t a dream was it?”

The rain had stopped and Dakota had raised her wing slightly so that she could look at him. She blinked once and shook her head twice.

‘I thought not… is that why you hate humans so much?”

Dakota dipped her head once. 

“I’m so, so sorry…” Izuku said, unsure of what to say after the emotional rollercoaster he had just experienced. He knew there was more to the story but for now he was grateful for her trust in him to show him this far while also a little thankful that that was all she had decided to show him. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to handle the full truth of her past if that had just been the beginning of it.

Dakota watched him, her blue eyes gleaming at him with something he couldn’t read.

“Goodnight Dakota,” Izuku said after a moment of silence, his mind turning up blank with more things to say. Dakota half purred, half growled at him and closed her wing once more, turning her head so that she could rest for the night. It took Izuku a long time to fall asleep that night, and when he finally did, he dreamt of laughing dragon hunters and dead dragons.


	13. A Whole New World of Challenges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry, I've been gone for so long, I feel like I've disappointed y'all and I'm sorry! I have just been over the top busy and although usually, I can find time to write within my crazy life, these past few weeks have just been filled with writer's block for me. Every time I tried to sit down and write I would end up just staring at the screen for half an hour. So sorry I have been gone for so long but I wanted to give all of you wonderful people something quality to read rather than something half-assed just to meet an invisible deadline. Thank y'all for your patience, it feels so good to be able to write again, and I hope all of you enjoy this extra-long chapter just for you!
> 
> Love you guys!

Izuku woke up the next morning with a groan as the rising sun forced him from his deep slumber. Sighing and sitting up, the boy rubbed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened the night before. He looked around him as soon as his eyes adjusted to the morning rays to find a sodden forest valley that still dripped with cold water. Izuku shivered as a harsh breeze whipped across his skin like sandpaper and howled off into the distance, rattling the tree leaves which just dumped more water onto Izuku’s head. Izuku shook his head with an annoyed cry and stood up, moving away from beneath the large tree that towered above him. The whole valley was silent except for a few forlorn sounding birds and the howl of the wind, his ears ringing from the lack of noise. 

That was when Izuku realized it. Dakota was gone. Izuku suddenly spun on his heel and twirled around in circles, searching desperately for his friend.

“Dakota?” He called out, his voice bouncing off of the tree trunks. Silence met his call and worry began to creep into his mind with its cold fingers, making him shiver again. “Dakota are you here?”

A low growl suddenly sounded behind him, causing Izuku to whirl around to find the beautiful female Night Fury hanging from the huge branch of a nearby tree by her tail, her claws sinking into the bark to balance herself. Her piercing blue eyes watched him carefully and she tilted her head, her ears flopping to the side like a cute puppy. Izuku’s face broke into a bright smile as he laid eyes on the dragon, his dragon. Dakota squinted her eyes a little and started to unravel her tail from the branch, using her claws to climb carefully down the tree trunk. Izuku’s first thought was to run, but he forced himself to stand still as Dakota approached him, her wings raised slightly. She finally stopped a few feet away from him and sat down, her tail curling neatly over her front paws. The pair watched each other for a moment, dragon against boy, waiting for the other to move. 

Izuku was about to say something when Dakota’s upper lip twitched and started to raise, showing her gleaming white teeth. At first, he thought that she was snarling at him and flinched ever so slightly. Dakota’s eyes flickered with something Izuku could not read, but she kept raising her upper lip and opening her mouth slowly. That was when he realized she was trying to smile. This thought just made Izuku smile even wider and he reached out with his hand slowly, careful not to startle her.

Dakota growled a little, her smile disappearing, but she did not move away from his outstretched palm. Her eyes widened as Izuku allowed his hand to drift closer, reaching for her muzzle. Izuku paused, looking right at Dakota, and realized that she probably saw this as a challenge. Taking a deep breath, Izuku closed his eyes and looked away, his arm stretching all the way out. Dakota’s eyes widened in happy surprise, her tail twitching just slightly with pride. Izuku felt through the bond Dakota’s pride and allowed his own happiness to travel down the bond, but he remained standing with his eyes closed. Finally, the feeling that he was waiting for gently touched his palm. Izuku let out a shaky breath and looked up to see Dakota with her nose pressed into his hand, her eyes closed and her ears relaxed. The Night Fury hummed softly and then opened her eyes, moving away from the boy. Izuku stared at her in awe, his mouth parted slightly. Dakota glanced at the ground bashfully, she had never been looked at with fondness before, and this new feeling made her feel like soaring through the air and flipping through clouds. 

“Wow, that didn’t take long,” a voice called out to the pair. Dakota’s pupils sharpened into slits and her claws flexed instinctively, her whole body moving into a defensive stance with her wing blocking Izuku from view and her teeth bared in unrestrained fury in less than a second.

“Haruka? What the hell!?” Izuku said without thinking, adrenaline pumping through his veins and electrifying his heart. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I only came around to see how the two of you are holding up to find you two practically flying together. I knew it wouldn’t take more than a little push,” Haruka beamed with pride, her smug smile lighting up the clearing. 

“Yeah, last night was terrible though, the rain nearly gave me hypothermia!”

“I always knew that Dakota would come around. I wasn’t worried!”

“I was!” Izuku said angrily. He was not usually one to be negative but he had a bone to pick with the pro-hero. Haruka’s eyes softened and she sauntered over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“I am sorry for putting you through that, but I hope you understand that it was necessary,” Haruka said in a soft whisper. Izuku knew she was being genuine and could see the logic behind her words, and so he forced himself to relax.

“It’s okay, thanks for trying to help, it did work even if it was miserable last night.”

“I know it was bad, but don’t worry, we are going to be able to move onto the fun part now that you have broken the initial barrier of trust with your dragon. She saved your life and allowed you to sleep on her wing, the most sensitive part of her body, in order to keep you comfortable at the expense of her own good night of sleep. She cares about you, so if you are still willing to put your faith and effort into her, then we can move on until you both understand everything.”

Izuku turned and glanced back at Dakota. She stared right back at him, her eyes filled with that inspiring intelligence he had started to notice in her gaze as of late.

“I am more than willing to move forward. What’s the next step?” Izuku responded.

Dakota’s heart fluttered slightly at Izuku’s response and she wagged her tail, her rough scales ruffling the grass around her paws. Izuku glanced at her and gave her a half-smile before turning back to Haruka.

“The next step is getting you out of this dump,” Haruka waved a hand around her head to indicate the dead valley around them. “Then, I want to introduce you to another friend of mine, someone who has offered up his home for us to use as a training ground for you and your dragon.”

“A training ground?”

“Yep! Unfortunately, dragons and humans do not just click with one another, you need to be able to understand her and she needs to be able to understand you. After that, I will have you trained until you two can dance in the sky together despite speaking different languages,” Haruka beamed, her eyes twinkling with suppressed excitement.

Dakota tilted her head a little, her eyes watching Haruka warily. Izuku cleared his throat and Haruka settled down, a small blush blooming over her cheeks.

“Sorry Dakota, I get a little carried away sometimes,” Haruka smiled and wrung and her hands together nervously. Dakota sighed and relaxed, raising her wings gently and launching into the sky. Izuku and Haruka watched her go, the wall of rocks having lowered back into their normal state as soon as Haruka had stepped foot onto the valley floor. Izuku kept his eyes trained on Dakota until she was nothing more than a black dot, his worry building with each pump of her wings, shooting her farther and farther away from him. He flinched as the weight of a hand suddenly rested itself on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry so much about her, she may be being hunted, but she is not stupid. She has survived for a very long time without human help,” Haruka murmured. 

“I know,” Izuku sighed. “I don’t even know why I feel so worried, I still really don’t know her that well and I know she lived in the wild before she met me. But I still worry, I can’t help it.”

“I understand how you feel, young Midoriya. Things will all start to make sense very soon, I promise,” Haruka patted his shoulder once and then walked forward towards the hill, making her way to where Izuku saw Cassian waiting, his large wings raised a little in anticipation. Izuku sighed and followed behind her. He crested the hill and looked around, his eyes scanning for some kind of vehicle to take him home. When he didn’t see anything, he turned to face Haruka, who was waiting patiently on Cassian’s back.

“Haruka? How am I supposed to get home? I don’t see your truck here,” Izuku asked. 

“That is because I wanted to give you the chance to get a little taste of what having a dragon is like! I didn’t expect Dakota to do this yet as she is still getting used to the whole situation, but in the future, you two will go flying every day! Trust me, you will want to, but you can’t even begin to fly a dragon until you’ve been in the air,” Haruka smiled and leaned down with an outstretched hand, waiting for Izuku to grasp it. Izuku stood there, frozen for a moment, before he shook his head, clearing away all of the doubts that had automatically sprung to the front of his brain. 

Taking a step forward, Izuku reached out and took her small soft hand, and allowed her to help him up onto Cassian’s back. It took Izuku a moment to get situated in the large saddle, moving his legs around to try to get comfortable amongst the sharp bones that stuck up along Cassian’s back and neck. 

“Ready?” Haruka asked once Izuku had situated himself into a position that gave him security on the dragon’s back.

“Y-Yeah…” Izuku said, trying to sound confident but cringing at the stutter in his voice.

“Don’t worry about it too much, young Midoriya. I know it’s nerve-wracking the first time but I promise you will love this,” Haruka leaned down and patted Cassian’s neck, signaling for him to move. Cassian glanced at the two riders out of the corner of his eye before raising his wings until they were at full mast. With a loud roar, Cassian shot into the sky, his wings forcing the group into the sky so that the wind screamed around them and all sense of direction was lost in a whirl of blue sky. 

Izuku managed not to scream but he did cry out a little and clutched the large bone in front of him like a cat, his fingers latching onto the rough surface so hard the tips of them began to callous. Izuku couldn’t calm himself down until Cassian shot through the cloudline and smoothed out, his body moving into a more natural horizontal position and his wings steadying them into an easier pace. Taking a shaky deep breath, Izuku relaxed his cramping hand and looked up and around them slowly, taking in the sight of the bright sunlight and the fluffy clouds. Immediately, all of Izuku’s nerves were dashed. His body still shook from the sudden adrenaline rush but Izuku managed to pull himself together, sitting up taller and relaxing his legs so that they were no longer crushed against the saddle.

“Haruka… this is… this is…”

Haruka glanced back at him and laughed at the sight of his awe-stricken face. 

“It’s pretty cool, right? When you get more connected with Dakota you will be able to learn how to manage her in the sky. You will get used to her specific mannerisms and flying habits and she will get used to having a human on her back. When a dragon allows their bonded rider to fly with them, it is a sign of the utmost trust and must not be violated for ANY reason at all. Understand?”

Izuku only nodded, sitting up a little higher to look around at the gorgeous sun-soaked clouds and crystal blue sky. His hair blew wildly around his head as the warm wind teased at it with playful fingers and his skin seemed to glow with the warmth of the sun.

Cassian flew gently for the entire time, only making little dips and the occasional loop every once in a while when Haruka gave him a little pat on the neck. His wings flapped heavily on either side of Izuku, their weight forcing them through the air like an arrow. They flew for a little over an hour, but to Izuku it felt like five minutes. Using a long telescope looking thing, Haruka glanced down below the clouds before they landed to make sure nobody was around, and then Cassian dove below the cloudline, his wings folding until they were flush against his sides and his nose aiming for a large meadow. Izuku clutched at the bone in front of him with sore fingers until they had landed softly on the sweet grass of the meadow and Cassian had once again folded his wings to his side. Haruka helped Izuku climb down and then beckoned to Cassian. Cassian lifted his head, sniffed the air, and then roared aloud. Emiko soon parted through the tall grass to their left, her small bearded lizard sitting on her shoulder. 

“Alright young Midoriya,” Haruka said, turning to face the boy. “Go on home, thank you for trusting me and I am sorry for the condition of the forest from last night but I hope you can use the skills you learned while you were out there to not only become closer to Dakota, but also to develop your skills as a hero in training,” Haruka dipped her head in a curt nod and Emiko turned Cassian into an eagle, who flew over to sit on the bone hero’s shoulder. “Meet me tomorrow at my house and we can move onto the next step.”

Haruka made her way through the field with Emiko and Cassian, leaving Izuku to go back home.

_____________________________________

The next day was mostly normal for Izuku and Dakota. Izuku went to school as if he hadn’t just spent the coldest night of his life out in the middle of nowhere the night before and Dakota stayed at home with Inko. Inko was still very wary of Dakota but was warming up to her just as slowly as Dakota was warming up to Inko. Dakota knew that Inko was a kind woman, and she trusted Izuku, at least a little, but the feeling of fear that she saw wash over the woman’s features when she laid eyes on the black dog made her feel solemn and unwanted. She pushed these feelings away though as Izuku left for school, just waiting for the moment when they would leave that afternoon to meet Haruka’s friend.

Izuku’s day was surprisingly uneventful, well, as uneventful as being at the most prestigious hero school of all time can get. His classes were a lot harder than usual and training had been as draining as usual but it was otherwise surprisingly relaxed. Izuku felt calm and collected for the first time in a long time, finally able to just be a teenager for a day. Even despite the less busy schedule for that day, the end of the school day was there faster than Izuku could blink and soon, he was packing up to prepare for his meeting with this new dragon trainer of sorts. Dakota was not in the house when he walked through the door, so Izuku ran to his room to set down his yellow backpack and grab a jacket before running out again, leaving a note on the kitchen counter for his mother just in case he wasn’t home before she got back from work.

A light breeze tousled his hair as Izuku jogged along his street making his way to a subway that would take him towards Haruka’s house. He found Dakota at the end of his street, sitting and waiting patiently for him in her dog form with her tail wrapped around her body and her eyes trained on his with her unwavering gaze. He smiled when he saw her and picked up his pace so as to avoid keeping her waiting too long. She stood as he approached her and began to trot beside him towards the train station. They made it to Haruka’s home in just under an hour and were soon on their way to this mysterious friend’s house, Haruka driving the pair in her large truck with Cassian sitting sleepily on her shoulder. 

Both Izuku and Dakota watched the scenery pass outside of their windows, the buildings and people flashing by as they swung through the countryside and back towards civilization. Izuku was starting to get a little sleepy when they suddenly passed a building that he recognized.

“Hey! Haruka, what are we doing at U.A?”

“Well, we aren’t stopping here but my friend lives right around here so we are just taking the main route around the school to reach our destination. I’m excited because this will be a convenient set up for you with the proximity to your school,” Haruka said brightly.

Izuku continued to watch out the window as they skirted the edge of the hero school campus and made their way back around to enter a new forest. Beautiful pine trees that grew larger and more impressive as they moved further into the forest, lined the road and swayed calmly in the gentle breeze that teased their needled branches. They drove for only a few more minutes before pulling to a stop in front of the tiniest stone cottage Izuku had ever seen. The home was nothing like the modern and contemporary homes that he was used to. This home looked as if it had been pulled directly from Scotland in the 1700s.

“Alright! Here we are!” Haruka exclaimed as she got out of her truck to stretch. The sun was warm and soft on Izuku’s skin and the light bounced off of Haruka’s white cloak causing it to glitter almost blindingly. Izuku followed just behind Haruka, Dakota padding at his side, up to the front door and waited patiently as she knocked three times with a huge silver knocker that was in the shape of a Chinese dragon. The door swung open immediately after the third knock to reveal a stocky young man with cropped brown hair, golden eyes, and tan skin. He was wearing a strong pair of jeans and a thin white t-shirt. Even from behind Haruka, Izuku could see the burns and scars lacing the man’s arm and neck.

“HARUKA!” the young man boomed excitedly, reaching in and wrapping his large, bear-like arms around her in a gentle but firm hug. “Oh man, it’s been so long since I last saw you! How have you been?”

“I’ve been really busy but doing well!” Haruka responded, giving his bicep a light pat. Cassian squawked happily from the air just above Haruka’s shoulder where he had moved to so as to avoid the man’s strong grasp and swooped down to land on the new man’s shoulder, affectionately nibbling his ear.

“Ah yes, hello to you too Cassian!” The man said, reaching a large finger to tickle under the eagle’s chin gently. “So, what can I do you for?” The man asked, leaning against the door frame to his house as soon as Cassian left his shoulder to perch back on Haruka’s.

“Actually, Jack I’d like for you to meet a new client of mine! This is Izuku Midoriya and we are here to see your father. This boy has just very recently been bonded to a dragon and needs to learn more of the basics.”

Jack’s powerful gaze shifted over to Izuku, those brown eyes, soft but calculating as they evaluated him. Izuku felt Dakota just barely tense beside him so he laced his fingers into the tips of her neck fur, stroking her softly to keep her calm.

“Alright, Haruka,” Jack said, his gaze returning warmly to his friend. “Why don’t you two come inside the house? Father is in the back.”

Haruka nodded enthusiastically and smiled before stepping in after her friend, leaving Izuku and Dakota to trot in awkwardly after her. The house was just as small on the inside as it was on the outside but the living space was neatly organized so that the place felt cozy rather than cramped. The group made their way through a homey living room, weaved through an awkwardly winding hallway and finally filed into a kind of hidden room in the back of the cottage. Jack stopped in front of a gorgeous cobblestone wall, his eyes roving over the surface. Finally, he turned back to the group with a smile.

“Ready?”

Haruka nodded before Izuku even had the chance to ask what he meant by ‘ready’. Jack turned back to the wall and closed his eyes, taking a slow deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they were a flashy red, each one looking like that of a camera lens on the inside. Jack stepped back and looked at the top of the wall until a ray of red light beamed out from his eyes. He lowered his head, looking down the wall until the lasers from his eyes had completely washed over the wall. In an instant, as if by magic, the stone wall peeled downwards and shuffled the bricks around until a huge hole was opened up in what remained of the wall. What hey saw made Izuku’s jaw drop.

Dragons were everywhere. They ate the fish that leaped up from a roaring river, flew high above them with their wings soaking up the sun’s ray, and perched on the obviously enlarged pine trees, probably the result of someone’s quirk. A glittering waterfall rushed over the lip of a nearby cliff so that it cascaded like a silver ribbon into a shimmering pool of water in the far left corner of the area. Jack smirked at Izuku’s awed face before bringing two fingers up to his lips and letting out a loud, sharp whistle. Less than a minute went by before a huge Triple Strike dragon swerved around a rock formation and landed heavily in front of them, its three scorpion-like tails clacking together with the impact. Jack reached up lovingly, his large hand massaging the dragon’s horns.

“Heya big fella! Have a good nap?” Jack asked.

The dragon yawned as if to emphasize this point and gently rubbed against Jack affectionately. Jack chuckled softly and turned back to Haruka and Izuku, motioning the dragon with his hands.

“This is Sasori. Named after his scorpion resembling tail-heads, he is a very sweet dragon. He likes to act tough but everyone here knows that he is just a big old softy. I am not actually bonded to him like my father is to his dragon but we have connected in other ways and he has been my best friend since I was a little boy,” Jack said, his eyes shining with love and adoration for the reptile standing before him with his wings neatly folded.

“He’s beautiful…” Izuku whispered without even meaning to. Jack smiled at him and gave his dragon a pat. “Thanks, Midoriya! One thing you should know about Triple Strikes is that they are very proud creatures. They love compliments and will respect you forever if you do it correctly but insulting them may be the last thing you ever do so hold your tongue around these beasts whether they are wild or more trained.”

“Oh! Thank you, sir!” Izuku responded with a bow.

“So, while we wait for my father to show up, as I am sure he is on his way back from helping a sick Gronkle that we have, let’s get to know each other a little bit! What kind of dragon are you bonded to?” Jack asked, his warm brown eyes drifting to look at Dakota. She shifted uncomfortably but didn’t visibly flinch away from his gaze. Izuku paused. He was unsure as to whether it was safe to answer him truthfully or not. He glanced at Haruka in a slight panic, fighting his own tongue for words.

“It’s alright, Izuku. You can tell him. He will need to find out anyway, he will help his father teach you on some days so he will see both of you a lot,” Haruka comforted. Izuku was still nervous and Dakota was even tenser than before but Izuku trusted Haruka. Taking a deep breath and placing a hand firmly on her head, Izuku looked Jack right in the eyes and opened his mouth.

“She is a Night Fury,” a voice from the shadows suddenly said, causing Izuku, Haruka, and Dakota to jump slightly. Dakota spun to the left with her teeth bared, watching the place where the voice had come from with narrowed eyes. A tall, lanky man with dark grey hair and his arms crossed behind his back stepped slowly from his hiding spot, his eyes narrowed just as fiercely in Dakota’s direction. 

“H-How did you know that!?” Izuku stuttered.

“Fumihiro!” Haruka exclaimed, her face breaking into a gleeful smile at the sight of the man. The newcomer looked to be about sixty years old, and his worn gray hair and scar laced skin seemed to tell a story of both tough and enjoyable adventure. The man glanced over to Haruka and Izuku saw his eyes light up slightly.

“I knew it, boy, because I’ve seen one before. She may be in a different form, but she still carries the same mannerisms,” Fumihiro said. His gravelly voice sent a chill down Dakota’s spine and made Izuku feel like clearing his throat. The man glanced at Haruka and kneeled down to peer at Dakota. The female Night Fury growled and moved back so that she was half-hidden behind Izuku’s legs.

“You’ve seen a Night Fury before?” Izuku asked in awe. “But I thought they were almost extinct!”

“Well, you found one didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess… on accident,” Izuku mumbled.

Fumihiro didn’t elaborate on how he had seen a Night Fury but merely held out one of his large hands towards Dakota. His hands really seemed to be one of the few traits he had in common with his son Jack. While Jack was large and burly, Fumihiro was tall and lean, his scowl much harsher than his son’s warm gaze. Dakota watched his hand warily but sniffed it from a distance, her ears pinned to her head.

“Dad, be careful please,” Jack murmured. 

Fumihiro ignored him and kept his hand perfectly still, his gaze never leaving the black dog’s face in front of him. Dakota finally seemed to trust him at least a little and allowed her nose to touch his palm very briefly. After just about one second of her nose touching his flesh, she stepped back and huddled behind Izuku’s legs again, peering at Fumihiro in the space between Izuku’s pant legs. Fumihiro stood with a snort and turned to face Haruka.

“It is good to see you Haruka, how have you been?”

Haruka smiled and began telling him about her journey with finding Dakota along with Izuku who was bonded to her despite their short original meeting. Izuku shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly as he waited to be acknowledged. Jack flashed both him and Dakota a comforting smile once he caught sight of Izuku’s nervous look. Izuku smiled back just as Fumihiro faced him again.

“What are you smiling at, boy? Do you think this is all some big joke?” Fumihiro snapped. Izuku’s mouth dropped open in surprise before he snapped it shut and shook his head frantically, his hands waving in front of him.

“No, no, sir of course not! I didn’t mean to come across as disrespectful, I promise!”

Fumihiro leaned down and placed one of his fingers under Izuku’s chin, lifting the boy’s head and looking hi right in the eyes. Izuku felt the blood drain from his face and his palms began to sweat but he held his ground and did not break eye contact with the man. Fumihiro stared at him for an uncomfortable amount of time but Izuku stayed put, waiting for the older man to make a move. Finally, he released the hero in training from his grasp and backed away to a more acceptable distance.

“I am busy today, Haruka and I am not even taking on this boy. I am retired as a trainer and I want nothing, and I mean nothing to do with his dragon,” Fumihiro scowled at Dakota who perked her ears forward and widened her eyes in slight surprise. “Get out of my sight.”

“Fumihiro! Don’t be that way! I know you are retired but I haven’t bothered you in years with anything but support and dragon care. I have come here for years to help you with all of your dragon wellness work and now I think it is about time you return the favor. Cash in your debt, Fumihiro, you don’t have to like the dragon, I will let your private matters remain private but don’t turn down this promising prospect because of personal prejudice.”

“Volunteerism does not illicit a debt, Haruka,” Fumihiro growled back.

“No, I guess not, but you are my friend Fumihiro. Think about all we have been through together! Won’t you help me just this once? Can we go on just one more adventure? Together?”

Fumihiro was facing away from Izuku but he saw his shoulders hunch as he thought about what Haruka said. He ran a hand through his thinning gray hair and closed his eyes with an annoyed sigh. 

“Fine,” The man said.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Haruka with suppressed excitement. That is why Izuku barely even registered the flying metal object that shot towards his face and had no time to react when a huge black wing suddenly obscured his view. Izuku heard Dakota cry out and whipped around to face Fumihiro again to find the old man with one arm stretched out and his face scrunched up with complete concentration. Izuku then turned to look at Dakota and felt his breath catch in his throat. Dakota had somehow changed back into her dragon form without the help of Emiko and had one wing raised. Protruding from that wing was a small dagger, the handle carved to look like a tiger leaping away from the blade. 

Izuku rushed to his dragon, a strange heat spreading down his back, and placed a gentle hand on her surprisingly soft wing. Dakota snarled at the man, her teeth bared, and her claws gleaming in the dying sun.

“What did you do that for!?” Izuku yelled furiously at Fumihiro as he tried to stifle the bleeding with a small cloth he had in his jacket pocket.

Fumihiro looked from the wound in her wing to the determined look in her eyes. Raising his hand, he snapped his fingers, the sound echoing throughout the entire valley. All of the nearby dragons seemed to stop what they were doing and look towards the man. Izuku suddenly felt a cooling sensation down his back, negating the original heat filled one that had washed over his skin just a moment prior. Looking at Dakota’s wing, his jaw dropped as he found her wound fully healed without even a scar, and the dagger sitting innocently on the forest floor.

“You start tomorrow. 6:00 am sharp.”

Fumihiro spun on his heel and marched out, Jack and Sasori following close behind, leaving Haruka smirking and Izuku dumbfounded.


	14. Fish Out of Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, everyone! Back again with another chapter! I meant to post this on Saturday but I was showing my OTTB horse out of town for two days so I really had no time to post! So, sorry it's late but here it is tonight! A good long chapter for y'all to enjoy! If anyone has any suggestions on other stories they want me to write, or if you want to suggest that something should happen in this story, feel free to comment down below! Thanks again MHA fans!

Izuku was expecting a lot of things in his training with Fumihiro. He was expecting Fumihiro to beat them into the ground or to force them to work until they dropped, even though their sessions were only supposed to last for an hour before school. What he had not expected was to be standing face to face with Dakota, holding a sword and being asked to slice her throat. 

Izuku’s jaw dropped in shock as the older man told him what to do, the cold texture of the sword biting into his hand despite the fact that the handle was wrapped in leather. The weapon felt shockingly heavy in his hands, and his heart seemed to droop with the sword tip, his mind frantically searching for some kind of logical reason for this.

“But sir-!” 

“Shut up and rush the Night Fury,” Fumihiro interrupted, his arms crossed behind him and his back standing ramrod straight. 

Izuku glanced at Dakota who was standing at the other end of the large forest clearing, her body low to the ground with her wings loosely spread and her tail raised to curl slightly over her back. Her lips were pulled back ever so slightly to reveal her gleaming white fangs to Izuku from across the field. Izuku’s legs began to tremble and he couldn’t stop himself from gulping at the sight of Dakota. She wasn’t even acting that aggressively but just having her in this stance reminded him of how dangerous she could be.

“Sir, what is the purpose of the-”

“Do you want to be a dragon rider or not, boy?” Fumihiro growled.

“I do, sir.”

“Then shut up and do as I say, damn it! I do not have to explain this exercise to you, as your teacher does not need to justify giving you homework at night. Now attack that dragon or I will have her do it for you.”

Izuku looked back at Dakota once again and saw a determined gleam in her eye. It suddenly crossed Izuku’s mind that maybe she knew what was going on. She did not seem frightened, or even nervous at the sight of Izuku holding a sword but she was refusing to communicate with him properly, both physically and through the bond. He just had to trust her. Ignoring his instincts, which screamed at him to drop the weapon and run, Izuku took a deep breath and charged. Dakota did not even have to move her body to avoid his attack, merely moving her head and growling as the sword passed by her ears. Izuku blanched at how fast she had moved. She had been sitting so still and hadn’t even moved places but she had still managed to avoid his attack with little effort. He made to strike again but barely had the sword in the air before he felt something very solid hit his side. His body was thrown backward and the sword flew out of his hand at the impact. He landed on his back hard, landing on something surprisingly soft but still getting the wind knocked out of him from the impact. He fought to get his breath back again, coughing and choking until the cool air graciously filled his lungs. His chest heaved in shock and he struggled to stand. The ground suddenly shifted beneath him and he looked up to find the head of a Snafflefang dragon staring down at him. It was then that he realized that the thing he had landed on was this dragon’s wing.

“This is my dragon, Tashiro,” Fumihiro said from somewhere off to Izuku’s left. “He will make sure you don’t kill yourself but he would appreciate it if you would make a quick recovery, his wings get sore easily.”

Izuku bounded to his feet in surprise and glanced back to see the handsome dragon shake his large head. The dragon had light blue scales with large orange patches and had a pair of short, narrow brown horns sticking up from his head. Sitting proudly at the end of his tail, was a huge club with sharp spikes that could cut through steel. Tashiro leaned down and used the valley between his horns to nudge Izuku forward again, back into the clearing. Dakota was still standing at the end of the meadow, but her tail had moved so that it was now slightly to the left of her paws. Izuku tilted his head and watched as Dakota did the same, her eyes sparkling with something he couldn’t read. That’s when he realized. She had hit him. He shook his head, confused.

“Well?” Fumihiro snapped, shaking Izuku from his confused reverie. “Go on, we don’t have all day.”

Izuku looked at the man for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on. Neither the old man nor his dragon, who had moved to sit beside his rider, gave him any answers, so Izuku turned back to face Dakota again. He noticed that his sword had been dropped a few feet away from Dakota, but after being hit by her tail the first time, he assumed he wouldn’t be able to just go and pick it up. He had to come up with a plan. Dakota growled softly at the end of the meadow. She knew he understood now. He sighed and tried to reign back his nerves. He knew she would not go easy on him, whatever the point of this was, it was important and he had to do it right.

“Alright, Dakota. I get the plan now,” Izuku said quietly to himself, his eyes scanning the area around them. He knew that the clearing was the border, he could not go outside that area. He also knew that the sword was his only weapon and that although some of the dragons from nearby had come to watch, they all stood too far away to help him in any way. It was just him against her. He closed his eyes as he went through everything he knew about Dakota and himself. He knew about his quirk, but he also had very little control over it. He had a suspicion that Dakota has a quirk, but he had yet to know what it is. The feeling of the ground trembling slightly beneath his feet caused Izuku to open his eyes. He cried out in surprise and leaped out of the way as his opened eyes revealed Dakota charging at him, her teeth bared and her wings pressed tightly to her sides, allowing her to run quickly but very silently in his direction. 

“I told you boy, if you don’t charge her, she will charge you. Now kill that dragon!” Fumihiro shouted at him from the lip of a small ledge that stood at the skirt of the clearing. Dakota let out a roar and galloped at Izuku again. Izuku didn’t hesitate this time as he bolted out of the way, zigzagging through the meadow to stay ahead of her. He tried to gather his thoughts, tried to think of a plan. He felt himself panicking, his heart in his throat and his breathing filling his ears so that he heard no other sound except that of his panic. Suddenly, all of that was silenced when he felt a small tendril stroke the bond, the tendril feeling warm with affection but cool with calm, allowing him to relax and collect his thoughts. He kept running but paused in his panicked thought process. This was not some blood-thirsty monster, this was his new friend with a determined will to work with him despite her troubled past. Izuku felt determination fill him and began to form a plan in his mind.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding Dakota’s snapping jaws. As Izuku ran, he tried to remember the nights he had spent with Dakota sleeping under his desk as he did his homework or sitting beside him on his bed right before he fell asleep. He tried to remember her specific mannerisms and the things that would make her purr when he would pet her. His feet pounded on the ground, his lungs screamed, and he could feel Dakota’s heavy breathing tremoring all throughout his body. A sizzling sound suddenly bubbled up behind him and Izuku leaped sharply to the left, crouching behind a large boulder as the fireball from Dakota’s mouth hurtled at the space where Izuku had been standing only moments ago and hit a tree with a loud explosion. 

Crying out, Izuku jumped from boulder to boulder to tree branch to boulder, trying to avoid Dakota’s plasmablasts. Each fireball was a vibrant purple color and was barely avoidable with how fast they were traveling. Izuku counted six shots before Dakota roared in frustration and began chasing him again. Izuku sighed in relief as the fireballs stopped and started to sprint toward the ledge of land where Fumihiro and Tashiro were standing. Izuku could feel Dakota’s thundering paw steps as she started to gain on him, only about four more strides from catching him. 

Gathering up his remaining courage and energy, Izuku activated One for All in only his toes and shot from the ground right at the wall of the ledge. He felt his toes break but he ignored the pain, reaching for the cliffside. Finally reaching it, he spun around right before he hit the side and placed the balls of his feet at the edge poised to jump. He leaped from the side of the cliff just as Dakota launched for him, her claws sheathed but her paws flexed to grab him. But Dakota was not prepared for Izuku to launch back at her and faltered in her attack a little which threw off her aim. Before she knew it, Izuku had landed on her face and knocked her back with the force of his jump, one hand holding on to her by grasping the scales behind her head and the other hand reaching under her chin. Careful not to hurt her, Izuku began to scratch her under the chin, moving his hand around as he searched for the spot that made Dakota melt every time. At first, panic set in as Dakota continued to struggle, worried that his plan had backfired and that his dragon would pin him to ground. But just as his doubtful thought began to fill his mind, Dakota’s whole body relaxed as his hand scratched right along her jawline by her ears. Dakota stumbled and then crashed to the ground, her wings splayed and her eyes closed peacefully. Izuku jumped away from her as he fell, watching for any sign of a trick. She continued to lay still and when he listened closely, he heard her start to purr. 

Izuku panted in exhaustion but felt his heart lift in excitement. He had done it, he had defeated his dragon in a fight! Izuku glanced up at Fumihiro, waiting for the man to react. Fumihiro looked from the collapsed Dakota to the proud Izuku, his eyes roving back and forth several times before he stepped down from his perch, Tashiro following his rider without any prompting. 

“Well, it looks like you aren’t entirely useless,” Fumihiro said, his booming voice echoing around the meadow. His gaze was cold but his posture was relaxed, so Izuku tried to remain confident as the man approached him, his large dragon swinging his head around to get a good look at Izuku. Fumihiro glanced down at Izuku’s shoes and snapped his fingers, the sound once again echoing around the entire clearing. Izuku did not know how the man knew about his broken toes but he sighed softly when he felt his toes heal an move back to their normal positions.

“Do you know why I had you participate in this exercise?” Fumihiro asked, towering over Izuku, having to lean down to look the boy in the eyes.

“Um… no sir.”

“Let me rephrase that, what did you learn from your dragon?”

Izuku glanced down at his feet, his hand reaching up to cup his chin in thought.

“What I learned…” Izuku muttered to himself. “Well, I learned not to underestimate a dragon, no matter if they are injured or n-”

“No, specifically!” Fumihiro interrupted. “Think about how your dragon fought you, what tactics she used, things like that! I don’t need to hear about life lessons, I’m a dragon rider already, this is about you learning more about your dragon, not me.”

“Oh! Sorry sir, I understand now!” Izuku said. “Something that I noticed when fighting her, is that she is very aerodynamic.”

“Explain.”

“Well, when she ran at me, she was able to speed up pretty significantly by flattening her wings and lowering her body to the ground. I assume she uses this tactic in flight too, as I’ve read that Night Furies can fly faster than the speed of sound when they want to. She also has quite a bit of firepower but she was only able to shoot six before she stopped. I don’t know if that is because she was tired, didn’t want to actually kill me, burned her throat, or ran out of fuel. I don’t really know anything about dragon anatomy but I thought maybe that would be part of the reason why she gave chase again after shooting at me six times.”

“Good, anything else to add?” Fumihiro asked, his arms moving to cross in front of his chest.

“Um, she has a weak spot under her chin. It feels good to her when you scratch that spot, and I don’t know if it is Night Fury specific or if most dragons enjoy being petted there, but that was the main reason why I was able to disarm her. I noticed the weak spot when she would relax completely whenever I scratched near there at home when we are just hanging out,” Izuku said, looking up at Fumihiro expectantly.

“Surprisingly good observations, Midoriya. But you did miss one major fact,” Fumihiro said.

“Really? What did I miss?” Izuku asked. Suddenly, he felt the wind get knocked out of him once more as his body was thrown to the hard ground, a huge weight pressed painfully above him.

“You forgot to consider recovery time,” Fumihiro said, the smirk evident in his voice. “The fight may have technically been over, but you are in a meadow with a huge dragon who just lost a fight, she was not likely to drop it. I thought this might be the case, and even though she is learning to be your friend, you didn’t even consider the fact that she may stalk you again after you let your guard down.”

Dakota growled lowly at Izuku before leaning down and giving his arm a small affectionate nudge. She then backed off of him and let him sit up, his chest heaving as he fought for his breath back.

“Sorry…” her soft female voice skittered down the bond, a warmth traveling down his spine.

“It’s alright Dakota,” Izuku coughed aloud, reaching out to lightly touch her muzzle with his palm. Dakota purred at him and then sat down, facing Fumihiro and Tashiro.

“Alright then, young Midoriya,” Fumihiro said gruffly, standing impossibly straighter. “I understand that you have to go to school before you are late for class but let me end today’s session with this. First, I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was a test of sorts because the last time I trained someone to bond with a Night Fury, they went on to be one of the most dangerous dragon hunters of all time and ended up killing most of the Night Fury population in an effort to become an icon amongst his village in a different country. When I sent the knife flying at his dragon all those years ago, he didn’t even flinch, didn’t even look at his dragon when it howled in pain. At the time I took him on as an apprentice because I thought that he was just trying to impress me by seeming confident. Obviously, that was not the case, so I threw the knife at your dragon, expecting to see the same result. I did not decide to take you under my wing until I saw that you rushed to your dragon despite not knowing her very well. You were angry at me but you were also fully willing to stay with your dragon rather than satisfy your anger just to keep her safe. I found that admirable, if not a little stupid, but worthy of my time and investment.”

“Oh, thank you, sir! I’m glad I was able to leave a good impression on you,” Izuku said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Now, as for future sessions should you decide to continue working with me, we are going to continue to do simulations like this so that you can learn as much as you can about your dragon as well as sharpen your focus and reorganize how you plan during high-stress situations. Today was a test of sorts that helped me to determine what you are like under pressure and I was impressed by you. I heard you are training to become a pro-hero at U.A. so I believe that may have contributed a little to your success today, but I also see that you have a lot of potential as a dragon rider. Our sessions will also be joined by Haruka and Cassian a lot of the time. She didn’t come today because she wanted us to get acquainted but now I think we are ready for her to come back into play. Emiko may also join us and I might recruit my son, Jack and his dragon in the future but that all depends on how you and your dragon mature and grow.”

Fumihiro pulled back the sleeve to his shirt to check the time on his watch and Izuku saw his eyebrows raise slightly.

“Alright, it’s a good thing I live near the hero school, you better get out of here before you are late for class.”

“Okay! Thank you, sir! See you tomorrow, same time, correct?”

Fumihiro dipped his head.

“6:00 am sharp.”

Izuku smiled and waved at the man, Dakota bounding after him. Izuku and Dakota got through the hidden door, into his house and past the front door to the front lawn before Dakota raised her wings and shot up into the air, the leaves blowing up around her as her wings forced the air down onto them. Izuku watched her go for only a moment before he smiled at her disappearing form and jogged over to where he had parked his bike, preparing to ride to U.A. for the day. 

___________________________________

“Midoriya? Are you doing alright? You seem a little out of sorts,” All Might asked, turning a little to get a good look at the boy’s face as they walked.

Izuku jolted and smiled apologetically at his idol, picking up his pace a little to match the stride length of his teacher. The pair were headed to the outdoor training area on the outskirts of U.A. for some after school training since the footing there was nicer and allow Izuku to practice using One for All safely.

“Sorry, All Might! I just spaced out for a minute, I’m fine, really!” Izuku said.

“Really? You’ve seemed awfully tired lately.”

“Just training a lot, I’ve been trying to prepare for the Sports Festival so that I can really make an impact! It’s just been draining my energy a lot more with all of the extra exercises.”

“I haven’t been running you too much, have I Midoriya?” All Might asked, concern lacing his words.

“Oh! No of course not, sir! I’ve been doing a lot of extra work on my own and it’s been fine, I just need to get more sleep and organize my time better so that I don’t wear myself out,” Izuku said, forcing every ounce of his brain to comply with the lie. His mind immediately wandered back to Dakota, and he had to stop himself from getting lost in his head again. They were nearly to the training arena anyway.

All Might glanced at Izuku doubtfully, worried about the kid, but decided to drop the subject and continue to walk beside his student to the arena. The pair didn’t talk again until they reached the doors to the large, dome-like building.

“All right, Midoriya,” All Might’s voice boomed as he forced himself into his hero form. Pain shot through his side but he ignored it, sending his power rippling through his veins until he stood in his tall, powerful hero form, the iconic image of the Number 1 hero of the world. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Right!” Izuku shouted, standing tall in front of his mentor with suppressed excitement.

All Might immediately set Izuku to work, having him carry heavy objects across the room and asking him to increase his pace after every lap, having the boy fight one on one with All Might himself in a friendly match that focused on developing his fighting strategy, and finally having him fight a small robot that was just shorter than the single point robots from the entrance exam. Recovery Girl had stayed behind after school hours to watch the training session, so Izuku was allowed to use his quirk to complete some of the tasks if he wanted. By the end of the training, Izuku felt drained, his muscles protesting at even the thought of standing, and his body sore from all of the breaking and healing it was going through. He had managed to only use his quirk twice during the entire training situation, once when fighting All Might, and once when fighting the robot but his body already felt worn down. 

“Alright, young Midoriya, I think that will be all for today!” All Might said, his own body smoking and shaking as it returned back to his weaker form after the relatively grueling activities it had undergone as well. “Nice work, you are really coming along! Why don’t you head home and get some food and rest?” 

“Sure thing,” Izuku panted out, “Thank you, sir!”

The green-haired hero in training waved at his mentor and healer before trotting out of the building despite his sore muscles. As soon as the door closed behind him, Recovery Girl turned to All Might with a sour look on her face.

“We can not force him to go through this again,” She snapped at the hero, her eyes narrowing. “You said that he is getting better but I care to disagree. He may be developing good hero skills and working on filling out his body and spirit in a healthy way that will indeed help him succeed to become a good hero, he is tearing himself up in the process! Did you see him walk out of here just now? Sure, he “trotted” out of here but I guarantee you he only did that to convince you that everything was okay so that you wouldn’t take away your training. His body is in pain and if you aren’t careful, you will break him.”

All Might sighed and ran a brittle hand through his hair.

“I know, I know, I just…” All Might bit his lip nervously as he stared off at the doors where he had watched Izuku leave. “I want him to succeed.”

Recovery Girl glanced up at All Might and allowed her eyes to soften a little, her tone warm when she addressed him.

“So do I, All Might, but I also care a lot about that boy’s health. If he is not healthy, he won’t succeed no matter what training you stuff him with. So please, maybe it is time to call for some help. Maybe contact someone else who knows about your power situation and will be willing to help you. The Sports Festival is coming up soon and I know that it will be a really good way for him to get scouted. Maybe just try to give some good investors a heads up that he is the one to keep an eye on, and support him on the way through. He is trying so hard to impress you, so stop trying to be his sole role model, you already have his admiration, but unless you figure out a better way to teach him, there will be no successor for you to model for.”

Recovery Girl then placed a hand on his slightly hunched shoulder before making her way toward the same doors Izuku used to leave. All Might stood in the center of the arena for a bit, thinking about what she had said, even after the doors had clanged shut behind her. It was then that he decided that he was going to write to a buddy of his, an old mentor, to see if he would possibly be interested in watching Izuku’s progress, even if he did have a secret that he wanted nobody else to see. All Might took a deep breath, forced the images of that secret out of his mind, and left the building, ready to get set on working on a letter to his old pal Gran Torino.

________________________________________________

Izuku was dead tired when he walked in the door of his home. He tried to remain chipper and seemingly energized during dinner so that his mother would not worry about him, but as soon as he got to his bedroom, the boy collapsed onto his bed with an exhausted groan. He laid face down on his bed for a while, the lower half of his body dangling off the side of his bed, and his arms crossed half-hazardly in front of him. He honestly didn’t know how much more his body was going to be able to take. With his work at U.A. combined with his training with his dragon as well as keeping up with his studies, Izuku was genuinely worried about a burnout, both physically and mentally. Izuku felt as if he were never going to get up from the position he was in now, feeling as if he were going to fall asleep right there on the side of his bed. That is until something cold and wet pressed against the knuckles on his left hand. Izuku jolted up to find himself face to face with Dakota in her dog form, her front paws resting on the side of the bed that was opposite of the boy. 

“Oh sorry Dakota, I didn’t see you there,” Izuku said, forcing himself to refrain from rubbing his eyes. 

Dakota did not speak or even initiate any kind of connection through the bond. She merely moved to his side of the bed and sat down directly in front of him, her tail curled neatly over her front paws, as usual. Izuku turned to face her, sitting back on his haunches, similar to her, and crossing his legs. She just gazed at him for a moment before leaning forward and pressing her head into his hand, using her snout to nuzzle it up from its position on his knee. Izuku chuckled to himself and began to stroke her head. To his surprise though, she pulled back and shook her head. Izuku just tilted his head in response, his large green eyes blinking quizzically. Dakota then stood up and moved around behind him and nudged him in the back. That was when Izuku finally understood.

Izuku pulled himself to his feet and slid into his bed, not even bothering to change into his pajamas. Once he was all settled in under the sheets, he patted the bed beside him and Dakota leaped up to meet him. She circled around a few times but kept it brief, laying down rather quickly beside him, her back pressed up against his leg. 

“You just wanted me to get some sleep, huh?” Izuku said, gingerly laying his hand on her shoulder. Dakota just sighed in response and closed her eyes. Izuku wasted no time in turning off his light and laying down to go to sleep but just before he allowed the temptation of slumber to overtake him, Izuku wrapped his arm around Dakota and pulled her closer. He hesitated when she tensed slightly, but continued to slowly pull her closer until he could cuddle with her properly.

“Sorry if you are uncomfortable,” Izuku whispered to her in the darkness, “I just wanted you to feel what love feels like.”

Dakota sat completely still for a moment but then craned her neck around and gave him an affectionate lick on the arm. Izuku fell asleep with a broad smile plastered on his boyish features.


	15. Bitter Discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back! I am so sorry for the hiatus, life always gets crazy right when you think you're going to have some relaxing times but I finally got this chapter done! I rewrote it a few times because I want to get this story more on track and move it along so I hope you guys like it! I wrote a lovingly long chapter this time in exchange for the long wait time since you guys are so amazing and I wanted this chapter to be worthwhile. Happy Holidays everyone! I hope all of you are doing well! Thank you for all of the comments, they brighten my day so much!!!

Dakota moved soundlessly through the woods, her paws barely even leaving imprints in the moist forest floor. Her ears were rotating constantly, listening to the sound of the birds whistling their merry tunes into the early morning sky and the rush of water over rocks in a nearby creek. The sun was bright and warm, the rays splattering her black scales with little gold spots as she walked beneath the canopy of tree leaves. Her crystal blue eyes scanned the foliage as she walked, not really sure what or who she was looking for, only that she was searching for something. A small red fox darted in front of her and she paused to watch it, her heartwarming at the sight of the signs of life all around her. She had never felt freer, she realized as she watched the animal scurry through the underbrush. Her injuries no longer plagued her, her mind felt clear, and she felt totally safe for the first time in her life. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth slightly as a cool breeze danced along her scales and kissed her face lovingly. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open as a familiar smell drifted toward her. The smell was smokey and warm and familiar. Dakota turned her head to see an old familiar face. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted into the Night Fury version of a smile as she recognized her childhood best friend, a slightly lighter black male Night Fury with bright green eyes that made the foliage around them jealous. Dakota roared in an excited greeting and ran toward her friend, her tongue hanging out of the side of the mouth as she galloped. The male dragon roared back and bounded toward her until they met in the middle, tails wagging and eyes shining.

Dakota had met this dragon when she was just a pup, the two becoming good friends because he was the only Night Fury pup in their pack who was not afraid of her quirk, the only dragon she knew, besides her parents, who did not see her as a monster. He was all grown up now, his wings reaching almost 48 feet long and his body having lengthened to a solid 26 feet long. Despite his growth, the kindness in his eyes still shone through like they always had when he was with her. He purred softly as they nuzzled one another, his ears relaxing against his head and his eyes closing. Dakota also had her eyes closed as she rubbed against his side, her tail swaying gently on the ground so that the short stalks of grass barely tickled her scales. The calming atmosphere was so refreshing and she felt as if she were going to stay there forever, resting with her best friend and never fearing the wrath of man again.  
The stinging cold of a metal chain wrapping harshly around her back legs and wings yanked her back into reality as she was wrenched to the ground with a yelp. Her best friend cried out and charged after her only to be caught up in the same trap, another set of chains coming out of the shadows to strap his wings to his sides and his legs to his belly. Dakota called out to him in concern before turning to the source of her chains and snarling in fury. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw who held her chains, her eyes widening in complete fear and shock. A man of average height, grayish hair, and lean stature stood at the end of her chains, his hands gripping the metal so hard that his knuckles turned white. His entire body, including the center of his face, contained many different human hands which were all connected by red tube-like straps. He was the one they called Shigaraki. She yelped as he pulled on her a bit, all of the pain from her injuries flaring up all at once at the invasive touch of the metal that constricted her lungs. 

“Great catch, Shigarki, these two will be amazing additions to our arsenal, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I think they will prove very useful in the future, Grimmel,” Shigaraki said as another man, the one holding the chains of Dakota’s friend, stepped up opposite the decay villain, his hand running through his graying hair as his face broke into a sinister smile. 

“Quickly! Lock them in their cages!” The man named Grimmel called out as a large group of hunters broke through the treeline and marched toward the dragons. Several of them latched onto Dakota’s friend’s chains and began to pull, dragging the poor Night Fury deep into the forest. Dakota cried out to him, her eyes wide as she tried to stretch her wings, break free of her binds with her claws, anything to reach him. Shigaraki suddenly appeared in her line of vision, his face broken by a wicked smile. He leaned down just far enough to keep out of biting range but close enough that Dakota could feel his rancid breath on her face. 

“You may have escaped once my precious dragon, and you may have helped your little friend to safety,” Shigaraki said, motioning in the direction where Dakota could still hear the male Night Fury’s roars and cries. “But you can’t stay away forever. You’ll slip up and when you do, me and my buddies will come for you.”

Dakota’s eyes widened and she tried to break free of her restraints by struggling even harder but all she felt was her body start to slide painfully across the unexpectedly sharp forest floor. Dakota turned her head to glance over her body to find that the same people who had taken her best friend were now dragging her to the same fate. She whipped her head around to glance at Shigaraki one last time. The man merely stood with his head slightly tilted, his fingers bending just at the knuckles in a mocking wave. Grimmel came to stand beside Shigaraki and although at first he merely smiled wickedly and watched them go with eyes that almost shone with excitement, he suddenly rushed forward, stopping the efforts of his men to drag Dakota to her prison. The gruff man kneeled down on one knee and held out one hand to cup her cheek. Dakota struggled but couldn’t move much under the control of the chains. She was about to lunge forward at an attempt to bite the man when his eyes grew soft.

“Hey, shhh, shhh… what’s wrong? Dakota?” Dakota shook her head. How did he know her name? “Hey everything is alright, get up, come on Dakota, you’re scaring me.” Dakota didn’t know what to make of Grimmel’s sudden behavior change when she realized that the forest background was starting to blur and fade. 

Dakota awoke a panting mess. Her eyes were blown wide and her breathing was much faster than it was supposed to be. She launched into a sitting position, keeping her head down and her tongue out as she tried to calm herself down. 

“Dakota? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Dakota flinched involuntarily as a gentle hand rested itself on her shoulder. That same hand retracted just slightly when she flinched but then resettled on that spot of her shoulder, the fingers lightly stroking her fur.

“Hey, it was just a bad dream, you will feel better in a moment! Do you want some water?”

Dakota turned her head slightly and felt her body relax a little once she saw Izuku, his eyes shining with worry as he studied her. He raised his hand up from her shoulder and moved it to her head where he was able to scratch behind her ears.

“Take it easy, okay girl? I know we have been doing a lot and I’ve been stressed about the Sports Festival but soon all of this hectic scheduling will start to even out a little, okay? I promise, but in the meantime, I need you to stay healthy which means getting quality sleep.”

Dakota felt her breathing begin to move back to normal, her heartbeat starting to slow as she listened to Izuku. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax into the movements of his gentle touch as he stroked her soft black fur.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Izuku asked in a soft whisper.

Dakota hesitated. She didn’t know if she wanted to relive her dream, but the images from her dream were already starting to fade and she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share a piece of herself with the boy that she was finally starting to trust.

“It’s alright,” Izuku said after a moment of her hesitated silence. “We can talk about it when you’re ready, I don’t want to rush anything, especially if it is a scary topic. I have to leave for school but do you want to meet up at Fumihiro’s place after school?”

Dakota nodded and nuzzled his hand before following him out to the kitchen to get breakfast.

____________________________________________

Izuku, Ochako, and Iida all decided after their difficult training and classes to spend their lunch sitting, just the three of them, outside on a solitary bench in the courtyard. They just wanted to catch up and pretend, for just a moment, that they are just normal teenagers rather than students competing to become the best heroes. The three friends joked around and talked, the conversation coming to a peak when Ochako said a joke just as Izuku took a swig of his water, resulting in a flustered Izuku apologizing profusely to a laughing Ochako who was covered in water. 

“I am so so sorry!” Izuku said for the hundredth time, trying to wipe his friend down with a small cloth Iida had passed to him. “I can’t believe I just did that!” 

“Deku, it’s totally fine! It was my fault for saying the punch line just as you took a drink! Are you okay?” Ochako said, batting his hand away.

“Am I okay? I’m fine, mortified, but fine! Are you okay? I just spit water all over you!”

“It’s just water Deku,” Ochako laughed and finished wiping herself off as much as she could.

“Do you want to splash me with water? Here, I have my water bottle with me! Why don’t you get me back!”

“How would that help anyone?”

“Just do it! I feel so bad!”

“No, Deku, that will only make things worse!”

Suddenly both flustered teens shrieked in shock as water splashed over the both of them. The pair looked up to find Iida watching them with a stern look, his own now empty water bottle sitting in his hand with the opened top pointed right at them.

“Well, you two wouldn’t stop arguing so I decided to settle it myself,” Iida said in complete seriousness. Izuku and Ochako stared at him owlishly for a moment before all three of them burst out laughing. Ochako then launched behind Izuku and grabbed his water bottle, turning and tossing water onto Iida in return.

“Gahhh!” Iida cried out as he shot into a standing position, flailing around in some kind of dance to get rid of the water that was sliding down his arms and legs and dripping off of his hair. 

Izuku and Ochako couldn’t stop laughing even when Iida playfully glared at them, readjusting his glasses and attempting to reorganize his uniform. That was when Izuku noticed his phone was ringing in the side pocket of his backpack. He leaned down and answered it, motioning to his friends that he’d be back in a moment. It was Fumihiro.

“Midoriya?”

“Yeah Fumihiro sir, what’s going on?”

“Did something happen with Dakota last night?”

“She had a nightmare but other than that she seemed fine. Nothing happened to my knowledge, why?”

“Because she has been acting all skittish and strange today. She has been outside in the sanctuary with all of the other dragons, and she seems to get along pretty well with them, more than I thought to be honest, but she is starting to worry me. I’ve already contacted the school to have you signed out, do you mind coming over here to check on her and figure out what’s wrong? She won’t come anywhere near me.”

“Uh, sure! Of course, I’ll come over! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be there soon!”

“See you in a bit, kid.”

His phone beeped as Fumihiro hung up the phone. Izuku stuffed the device in his pocket and jogged up to his friends. He hated lying to them but knowing he could never tell them the truth, he started to formulate a story in his head.

“Hey guys, my mom called and said that I have to come home for something urgent. She wasn’t clear on what it was but I have to head home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow, alright?”

“Oh, okay Midoriya,” Iida said, his face tilting slightly in concern. “I hope whatever it is isn’t too bad of news.”

“Thanks, Iida, I promise I’ll be back tomorrow to update you guys! Bye!”

Izuku jogged off in the direction of the school to leave and both Iida and Ochako watched him go. Iida sighed and turned to pick up his things but Ochako continued to watch Izuku, her eyes slightly narrowed as she observed her friend.

“Iida, do you maybe get the feeling that Deku is hiding something?”

Iida sat up and thought for a minute, turning the idea around in his head.

“Well, I do think it is rather sudden that he had to leave but it makes sense if it is something wrong. I don’t think his mother would lie to get him out of school unless it was something super serious and I don’t think Midoriya would either. He wants to be a hero more than anyone, I don’t see him as the kind of person who would throw away his dreams for playing hooky or something.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” Ochako said, glancing at the doors that Izuku had disappeared through just moments ago. “I don’t want to believe that he’s lying to us but something just feels weird about his behavior.”

“Really? I don’t feel anything strange about this. Maybe you just aren’t feeling very well today, just trust him,” Iida said.

“Alright, I’ll do that, thanks, Iida.”

“Of course! Now come on, let’s get back to class before we are late.” 

“Iida, we have like fifteen minutes before class starts again!” Ochako argued light-heartedly.

“I know! But remember, being on time is late and being early is on time!” Iida said brightly, grabbing his bag and marching towards the doors with Ochako following a little less energetically behind him.

Even as she made her way to her desk and waited for the bell to signal the start of class, Ochako could not shake that weird feeling about Izuku. At first, she had thought that she was just feeling strange due to her crush on Izuku, that despite her tireless efforts to shove them deep down into the depths of her mind, her feelings were just resurfacing and causing trouble. But then after today, she just couldn’t let it go. Something else was going on and she was going to figure it out. 

_____________________________________

Ochako tried to cool her nerves as the train pulled to a stop at the station. She was not usually one to meddle in other people’s affairs but she just couldn’t let this one go. Her friend had seemed so distressed and it had been like that for weeks, she just couldn’t take it anymore. She had already gone to his house with a basket of muffins she had made at home, just to cheer him up to find that he wasn’t there. His mother had kindly given her an address with a beaming smile, telling her happily that Izuku was out training. Ochako didn’t know what to make of the situation, the fact that his mother either didn’t seem to know that something bad had happened or if she was playing dumb, but Ochako shook off her weird jitters and thanked her with a smile. The address that Inko Midoriya had given her had taken Ochako to the outskirts of town, just past the hero school. She had never even known this was here, so she looked around her in interest as she stepped off the platform and made her way to a huge forest of pines. 

The paths were long and winding, the huge trees spreading out above her like a spotted blanket, the sunspots dotting her hair and warming her skin. She walked for a long time through the forest, eventually starting to doubt that she was even going the right way. She glanced at the sheet of paper again, carefully tracing the diagram Inko had drawn for her, with her finger. Ochako then looked up and glanced around her, searching for the little cottage that was supposed to be nestled in the trees.

“Where..?”

A loud, sharp roar made her jump out of her skin and dash for the nearest tree, her back pressed against the bark and her hand covering her mouth to keep her rushed breathing from being heard. She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to gather her courage.

“W-whoa!”

Ochako’s eyes flew open as Izuku’s familiar voice sounded out across the area. Her friend was there. He was being attacked out here all alone. Her skin paled and her sweat seemed to freeze on her skin. The dragon. She didn’t have to look to know. The dragon that had attacked her friend those few months ago had come back for its prey, to finish what it had started. Ochako had completely forgotten about the need to keep Izuku from being out on his own due to the dragon. The hero course had just been so demanding, and he never talked about the dragon so it had stopped crossing her mind. She was reminded of it now though as she heard a sickening crunch. She squeaked as the sound resonated in her ears, Izuku’s groan of pain following soon after. She internally screamed at her legs to move, to do something to help her friend. She was a hero in training, she could do this. Leaning down carefully, she set down her basket of muffins and grasped a particularly sharp stick from the ground. She knew she wouldn’t be able to do much damage, but she could at least distract it.

“AH! Shit!” Ochako heard Izuku cry out as another thud made her heart drop. 

“No, no, no, no, you need to work harder!” Ochako froze as she heard the sound of a deeper, older male voice from around the tree. “You won’t do more than tenderize the boy if you keep going about it that way! You need to get him as high up off of the ground for it to effective, stop holding back!”

An accomplice. A god damn accomplice. That dragon was conspiring with a man to kill Izuku. 

“Come on! Get him to stay where he is!” The man yelled and Ochako heard the dragon growl low in its throat before Izuku let out another pained squeak. 

Finally, making up her mind, Ochako took a deep breath and darted from behind one tree to behind another one, making sure to remain undetected as she moved. She held her breath for a moment but nobody from the clearing made any indication that they had seen or heard her.

“Help! Ahh!” Izuku suddenly called and Ochako heard yet another loud thump on the ground. 

“Nobody is coming to help you, kid. You are on your own in this, not even she can help you,” the other man’s voice said. Ochako, who had moved down two more trees since the conversation started, froze, fearing that the man was referring to her. There was no way, who else would he be referring to? She waited with her eyes tightly closed, waiting for the inevitable sound of wings flapping and an angry roar. She waited for the feeling of teeth sinking into her flesh. But nothing came. She opened one eye slowly, and then released a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding when she found the forest looking back at her rather than the inside of a dragon’s mouth. 

Another thud.

They were toying with him. Throwing him around like a rag doll. Even if they knew she was there, all that stupid lizard cared about was playing with her prey until he died a painful, torturously slow death. Anger boiled in her blood and her vision blurred until all she could see was red when she swung around from behind the tree and leaped onto the man, her stick clutched in both of her fists so that she could bar his throat with it.

“What the-!” The man choked as the stick hit his jugular. Ochako ignored the pain she caused him and released the stick with one hand, using her finger pads to send the man into the air but only after she had managed to wrench the sword he had been holding from his grasp. The man floated into the air with a confused yell but Ochako didn’t even look at him as she made a mad dash for her friend who was laying bruised on the ground.

“DEKU!” Ochako shouted as she skidded to a halt at his side. She knew that the dragon would reach them quickly so she didn’t hesitate to press her fingers to her friend’s body, making him weightless. Once gravity released its hold on her friend, Ochako snatched his arm and pounded toward the trees, her legs screaming as she rushed for cover, dragging her friend through the air behind her.

“U-Uraraka!?”

“Hold on, Deku! We are almost there!” Her hair whipped her face and the rate of her breathing was beginning to burn her throat but she kept going, forcing herself to run as fast as possible through the foliage.

Ochako didn’t even hear the sound of beating wings, didn’t even know the dragon was there until the beast dashed in front of her, its wings raised above its back menacingly and its jaws parted in a vicious snarl. Ochako managed to scramble to a halt before she landed right in the dragon’s mouth but her traitorous feet slipped on the foliage below her shoes and sent her sliding back onto her butt. She leaped to her feet and faced the beast, her arms held out to protect Izuku, who was still floating behind her.

“Deku! I’m sorry, I tried, I really tried!” Ochako now berated herself. Nobody else was coming to help. She should’ve at least called someone once she realized how bad the situation was. What the hell was she thinking trying to take down a dragon all on her own?

“Ochako! You need to let me down!” Izuku said in a panicked voice.

“But you’re hurt!”

“I’m okay, I promise! But you need help, please let me down and let me explain.”

“Expain…?”

The jet black dragon suddenly let out a loud roar and Ochako jumped to place her fingers together, leading Izuku to drop down with a thump behind her, landing on his feet. Ochako got into a fighting stance, waiting for Izuku to do the same beside her when he did something she did not expect. Izuku jumped in front of Ochako and sprinted toward the dragon, halting just in front of it and holding out his palm to its muzzle. Ochako went to charge after him but Izuku’s other arm shot out and he held her at bay with his palm out toward her. The dragon growled and tried to move toward Ochako, raising up so that it was standing on its hind legs, but Izuku moved his body in the way, his gaze piercing.

“Hey, hey! Dakota! Shhhhh, easy girl, calm down, it’s just Uraraka! She won’t hurt you, I promise! Remember? She was the one who got you to warm up to people. She was the first one to pet you!” The dragon’s eyes widened and she lowered back onto all four paws, her growl dying on her tongue until it was a low, rumbling purr.

“Yeah, that’s it. Good girl, nice and easy,” Izuku reached out and touched his palm to the dragon’s nose as he spoke. The dragon closed her eyes and purred as soon as his hand touched her, her wings lowering and resituating until they were tucked neatly at her sides. After a moment, the great beast even sat down on the forest floor, her purrs getting louder and her tail even beginning to wag as Izuku moved his hand to scratch under her chin.

Ochako’s breathing was still ripping at her throat, her eyes wide and her mind spinning. What the hell was she seeing right now!? The dragon who tortured and attacked her friend was now sitting here like a dog, and Izuku wasn’t running away or screaming in terror! He was sitting there scratching her and looking at her as if she were his pet.

“Wh- Wh- Wh-” Ochako cleared her throat and closed her eyes, forcing herself to clear her mind.

“What is going on, Deku? Wh- When d-did you learn how to do this? H-how did you-”

“Oh! Um, U-Uraraka, um, I can explain, I promise-”

But Izuku never got through his sentence. Ochako looked up at the huge dragon before her and made a decision. Izuku had been brainwashed by this beast and although she knew she had to help him, now was not the time. She had no back-up, no weapons, nothing. She also knew that she couldn’t fight them on her own. Izuku maybe, if she got close enough to make him float, but the dragon as well? Her quirk would be useless to a creature who could use wings to push itself around through the air and she had no idea if this giant lizard had a quirk which was entirely possible. Secretly, behind her back, Ochako pressed her fingers to her clothes, making them weightless on her body. As soon as she was sure her quirk was in effect, she bolted, sprinting through the forest and zigzagging through the trees so that the dragon could not swoop in and catch her from above.

“Uraraka!” She heard Izuku call out, but she ignored him and kept on running until she was far away from the cottage in the forest and headed toward the train station.

“Shit!” Izuku whispered and made to run after her when a hand gripped his shoulder.

“Fumihiro, sir!”

“Leave her be. She won’t listen when she is panicked like that. She probably thinks you have been brainwashed or something. She will only see what she wants to see if you chase her. You don’t want her to be scared of her, do you?”

“Of course not,” Izuku said dejectedly.

“Good, then maybe figure out with your dragon a better way to talk to your friend. Preferably sooner rather than later, we don’t want her creating some sort of resistance to “save” you. She is a strong girl, she could be a valuable asset if you manage to convince her that you are not some sort of demon dragon puppet.”

“Alright, I will. Thank you, sir,” Izuku said, bowing to his teacher.

Fumihiro nodded, a slight bruise beginning to bubble up onto the surface of his skin where Ochako had choked him. He then spun on his heel and made his way back into his cottage, the door shutting loudly behind him.

Izuku sighed and turned to face his dragon who was sitting on her haunches with her head tilted to the side.

“Well? What do you think we should do?” Izuku asked with a sigh. “I really don’t want to mess this up, she is my best friend.”

Dakota moved back onto all four paws and stood up, moving beside Izuku to nuzzle his shoulder affectionately. 

“You won’t,” Dakota said softly through their bond. “I have an idea.”

__________________________________

Ochako slammed the door to her apartment shut as soon as she had gotten in unlocked and shot inside. She leaned against the cool wood, her heartbeat practically vibrating and her breathing tearing at her throat like claws. She was starting to get light-headed, she knew she had to calm herself down but her nerves were alight with adrenaline.

“D-Deku…”

Ochako finally managed to slow down her breathing after closing her eyes and forcing herself to count five slow seconds in between each breath. She didn’t open her eyes until her breathing was relatively back to normal and her heart was no longer hammering like a hummingbird stuck in a cage.

“Deku is stuck w-with a d-dragon,”

For the first time in a long time, Ochako was glad that she lived alone, her parents living on the other side of town due to their jobs regarding their construction company. She was able to focus on the issue at hand rather than having to explain herself to a bunch of berating questions. Ochako finally pushed herself away from the door and made her way to the couch, pulling out her phone in the process. She dialed Iida and held the phone up to her ear, but as soon as he answered, she hung up. She couldn’t call Iida, she realized. She couldn’t call anyone. If Izuku really was trapped by this thing, she had to keep it a secret, just like he has up until this point. Otherwise, they might try to kill the dragon, injuring or even killing Izuku in the process. She had to think of a solution on her own. She stood up and paced in front of the couch, going through a variety of solutions as they popped up in her head, each one more ridiculous than the last. She ran her hands through her hair, her fingers scratching at her scalp absentmindedly as she thought. After almost half an hour of thinking, Ochako collapsed back onto the couch with a groan, her list of discarded ideas increasing by the minute. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to form at least some kind of plan. She wanted so desperately to call someone, to tell them what was going on but she knew she couldn’t do that. And if she was being honest with herself, she normally would have called Izuku for this sort of thing which was obviously not an option. She was about ready to scream in frustration when a bout of loud, hurried knocking on her front door halted her train of thought as if it had hit a brick wall. Ochako froze and watched her door with bated breath and wide eyes. The knocking sounded again, more persistent this time.

“Uraraka! It’s me, Deku! I know we had a rough start a little while ago but I really need your help!”

Ochako placed a hand over her mouth and bit her tongue to keep from responding, tears pricking at her eyes and her heart longing to reach out to her friend.

“I-I know you have no reason to trust me right now but I really care about you and so I want to explain. The dragon that you saw earlier is good, she never meant to hurt me and has been a friend of mine for a while now. I know you probably won’t believe me but right now, that dragon is in serious trouble!”

Ochako stumbled backward a few steps, her hand reaching behind her for the back of the sofa. She was trying to stabilize herself, to keep herself from falling for what was probably some sort of trick to get her to walk within capturing distance of Izuku’s possessed grasp.

“Ochako,” Ochako gasped slightly at the use of her first name. “Please. I know you probably think I am being controlled or something but in reality, this dragon is the most compassionate creature I have ever met. I really need your help, she is in serious danger and you are the only one I can go to right now for help. Please, you… you are my only hope.”

Ochako didn’t even realize she had moved until she found herself at the door. In her right hand, she held a knife that she had grabbed from the kitchen table and with her left, she held the doorknob, her muscles tensed to open the door. Even with the knife, Ochako knew she wouldn’t have very much of a chance if this was a trick but something about Izuku’s plea had struck a chord in her. She took a deep breath, shoved down the last of her doubts, and opened the door.


	16. Backfired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope all of you are having an amazing weekend so far! So, this story has gotten way longer than I originally intended. That isn't a bad thing, many of you seem to be enjoying the narrative and I have had so much fun writing this but I don't want to discourage possible new readers by having a fic that is super long. Because of this, I have decided that I will have 17 chapters for this part of the story, and then since it is in a series, add another part and continue the story from there. Nothing will necessarily change, and it isn't a spin-off or anything, I will just be continuing the story through another part. Like a part 2. I just wanted to let you guys know so that you don't think the story ends in two chapters. In the next chapter that I will post next Saturday, I will explain in more detail about this change just so you guys don't get confused! Have an amazing day and happy reading! I hope y'all enjoy this next chapter, and please continue to leave constructive criticism, I love hearing your thoughts!

Izuku’s mouth fell open when Dakota told him her plan. 

“You’d really do that for us? You’d let her ride on your back?” Izuku asked in shock.

“Well of course,” Dakota said to him through the bond, her tail swaying just above the forest floor. “I will be honest, I am not exactly happy about it but I can feel how much she means to you. I know it is important for you to avoid losing your friendship with her so I will do this for you. You just have to put the plan into action.”

Tears of gratitude threatened to spill over onto Izuku’s cheeks as Dakota spoke, the weight of what she was doing for him, even with her terrible past with people, hitting him like a ton of bricks. His heart swelled as the dragon in front of him used her claw to draw out their plan into the dirt, her eyes narrowed slightly in focus. Without warning, Izuku leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the Night Fury, his head resting against her chest. Dakota froze but did not move away from his touch.

“Thank you, Dakota,” Izuku whispered.

Dakota remained a little tense but began to purr and curled a wing tentatively over his upper back in her own form of a loose hug. Izuku released her and moved back so that he could look at her drawing in the sand, wiping his eyes with his sleeve as he went. 

“Alright, let’s go through the plan again,” Izuku said, using his finger to trace the marks in the sand. “First, you are going to fly over to where her apartment complex is located and find the tallest tree in the area. I am going to meet you there after your search. Then, you will perch up in the tree where she can’t see you, just so that we don’t scare her when she opens the door. That is when I will go up to her door just by myself and try to convince her through the door that I am not an enemy and offer to show her what you are really like. Finally, hoping that we get this far, I will call you over to land on the ground directly in front of the complex, away from any windows. That is when I will bring her downstairs for our little flight. Your only job is to look as calm and unthreatening as possible, no matter what she does. If she does anything you don’t like, just tell me through the bond and I will react to it for you to avoid scaring her. Understand?”

Dakota was silent for a moment as she looked over the plan. She tilted her head to one side, and then looked up at Izuku, giving him a slight nod.

“Ok good, let’s go.”

It was already getting dark so the pair did not waste time preparing to leave. Dakota studied the route to Ochako’s apartment that Izuku showed her, her wings twitching slightly as she memorized the path. 

“Alright Dakota, are you ready to go?” Izuku said, walking up beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder. Dakota pressed her muzzle into his chest and purred in confirmation.

“Good! Please be careful, I’ll see you there!” Izuku said, taking a few steps back to avoid the wind blast of her wings as she shot into the air. Her wings beating heavily, she flew up into the darkening sky, her eyes wide and sharp. Izuku watched her until he could no longer see her before he turned and made his way toward the bike he had left in his front lawn.

_____________________________________________

The cool night air felt amazing on Dakota’s wings as she flew, the clouds ticking her scales and the deep, fresh smell of the wind filling her mind with fond memories of her home. She frowned slightly as she considered the memories that flooded her mind. The fresh smell of the wind reminded her of the mountains where she used to roam and the pine trees where she used to climb. She inhaled deeply, the smell calming her as she thought about her old friends and family. She closed her eyes for a bit, banishing any negative thoughts from her mind and allowing herself to relax as she soared through the air. Her mind once again flashed to an image of Izuku, his kind smile, and his warm gaze. His soft hands and his wild green hair, his contagious laugh and his golden heart. Dakota felt her own heart warm considerably as she thought of the sweet boy. He was so selfless, he cared, and she felt safe when she was around him. She began to purr as she descended slowly below the cloud line. She knew she was getting close to her destination and with the warm memories of her old family and Izuku clouding her mind, Dakota felt completely relaxed and confident. 

Which was her mistake. 

Just like in her dream, Dakota was harshly reminded of reality with the sting of a dart in her side. Dakota let out a roar mixed with shock, fear, and anger, sent out one flash of sharp fear through the bond, and then felt her wings collapse at her sides just as she lost consciousness.  
________________________________

Izuku was riding his bike quickly down the quiet street, his legs pumping the pedals as hard as he could. He knew there was no real rush but he hated leaving Dakota alone for too long when she wasn’t either at his house or at the dragon sanctuary behind Fumihiro’s cottage. Using the back of his hand he wiped the sweat off his forehead as he pedaled, ignoring the burn in his legs. His hair was pushed wildly back from his face as he rode against the wind, his eyes constantly scanning the area around him. He didn’t know why he was being so paranoid. Sure, it was late at night but he knew he could defend himself, so why did he feel so weird? Izuku shook his head, his anxiety building until he was practically flying down the street, his breathing coming out in short pants. Finally, Izuku had the sense to pull over onto the side of the road and calm his breathing. He glanced at his hands and released the bike handles once he realized that he had been holding onto them with so much force his knuckles had turned white. Izuku took a deep breath and slowly counted to twenty in his head, calming himself. Dakota was fine, she could take care of herself. She is a dragon, she can fight practically anyone, no matter their quirk. Izuku finally managed to relax a bit, a frown scrunching up his boyish features in consideration. Why had he felt so panicked? He never felt that feverishly anxious. He glanced around him and ran a hand through his hair. What was going on with him? That was when very suddenly, a bolt of fear shot up his spine like a lightning rod and speared through his heart making him gasp. He clutched his shirt over his heart and his eyes widened into huge saucers.

“Dakota…” Izuku gasped. Without hesitation, Izuku leaped back onto his bike and shot off to the left, completely abandoning his original plan and following the mark Dakota had left on his heart.

_____________________________________

Izuku sprinted up the steps leading to Ochako’s apartment, his arms pumping wildly as he moved. He had found Dakota pretty easily following the bond but had immediately realized that he could not handle the situation on his own when he had stumbled upon her location. Dakota was in a huge metal cage, wearing a muzzle over her face and her body was covered in chains in restraints. Her eyes had been closed and although she had been breathing normally, Izuku knew she was barely conscious. She had been surrounded by men, all of which were holding various weapons as they moved in packs, hoisting cages and stacking them as if they were waiting to be picked up. Dakota had not been the only dragon who was there either. There were a few other dragons in cages but there were also several terrifying-looking dragons who had roamed about with the men. Izuku knew the dragons to be Death Grippers thanks to his previous research on dragons, but it did not help to ease his anxiety much due to the immense amount of venom he knew they held in their spine-tipped tails. Haruka & Emiko were out of town and so he had called Fumihiro and left a message but the old man had not responded. It was because of this that Izuku was sprinting up to Ochako’s door, praying that this last hope of his would be enough to at least keep the men from leaving long enough for actual help to show up.

He pounded on Ochako’s door, tears threatening to blind him as they made his vision waiver. He aggressively wiped them away with his sleeve and pounded on the door again, his fist stinging a little from the force of his knocking.

“Uraraka! It’s me, Deku! I know we had a rough start a little while ago but I really need your help!”

No response.

“I-I know you have no reason to trust me right now but I really care about you and so I want to explain. The dragon that you saw earlier is good, she never meant to hurt me and had been a friend of mine for a while now. I know you probably won’t believe me but right now, that dragon is in serious trouble!”

Still no response. Izuku took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

“Ochako,” Izuku said shakily. “Please. I know you probably think I am being controlled or something but in reality, this dragon is the most compassionate creature I have ever met. I really need your help, she is in serious danger and you are the only one I can go to right now for help. Please, you… you are my only hope.”

He waited.

And waited.

He was just about to leave her alone when suddenly the door swung open. He turned with a smile and opened his mouth to talk when he felt something solid touch him lightly on the chest. His breath hitched and his eyes widened when he looked down to see the point of a kitchen knife pressed ever so slightly against him.

“Ura-”

“Don’t talk,” Ochako said firmly. She stood tall and confident. He knew she must be scared but he couldn’t tell as his best friend faced him down, her face set with a determined look.

“I don’t trust you but I also don’t want to hurt you, ever. So please, answer me this question. Your answer to the question will help me determine if you are telling the truth or not. Understand?”

Izuku merely nodded and held his hands up, showing her he held no weapon and meant no harm.

“Good,” She said. Her voice cracked slightly but she cleared her throat and plowed on. “Deku, why did you rescue me on the day of the entrance exam in U.A?”

“Why did I rescue you?”

“Just answer the question,” Uraraka said aggressively.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Izuku said quickly, his eyes widening a fraction more. “I rescued you because… well because not only were you the only person to show me any kindness on that day but also because you could not help yourself. You were trapped and I didn’t even have the chance to think before my body moved. I wanted to save you, needed to save you because I want to be the kind of hero that can help people no matter who they are. I want to give people hope and I want those who don’t feel loved to be loved. I saved you because not only were you kind to me, but because I could not bear to see anyone injured,” Izuku paused for a second.

“I also saved you because I saw a spark.”

“A spark?” Ochako asked in a whisper.

“Yes, it was the same spark that fuels my actions today. A spark that pushes me forward to be the best hero I can possibly be. I saw that spark in you, you refused to give up, you were determined, despite your injuries, to finish the test and help others so that you too could have a shot at being an amazing hero. I saved you because although I have my own ideas when it comes to helping others, that spark struck something in me that gave me the strength to move despite the odds of actually beating the robot.”

Silence met his answer for a moment, the pair staring at each other intently.

And then Izuku was tackled in a rib-cracking hug, the kitchen knife hitting the porch floor with a loud thud.

“Deku! Oh, Deku I am so sorry, I didn’t want to threaten you but I had no idea what was going on! I didn’t know if you were being controlled, or if you were going to hurt me or-”

“I would never hurt you,” Izuku said firmly as he returned her hug with equal enthusiasm. “I am so sorry that I scared you, I just didn’t have the chance to explain anything. It broke my heart seeing you run from me, Uraraka, I am so sorry.”

Ochako squeezed him somehow harder and gave him a watery smile.

“It’s okay, Deku. I’m sorry I ran, I just didn’t-”

“No, no, don’t apologize, you did what was best for your survival at that moment, I’m glad you had the sense to run. It was my fault for not being prepared for the possibility of one of my friends finding out about Dakota.”

Suddenly, Izuku remembered the whole reason for why he was there.

“Shit! Dakota!”

“What? Deku, what’s going on?”

“I totally forgot why I came over here,” Izuku said quickly, his face paling as he remembered his poor dragon lying unconsciously in a cage. “I really need your help, the usual people that I’d call for this are either busy or gone for now. Dakota is in serious danger. She was on her way over here to help us make up when she got shot down by a group of people. I have no idea how they found her when she was flying through the air, or why she was unable to get away, but I really need someone and you are the only other person who won’t kill her on sight.”

“Deku…”

“Please,” Izuku choked out in a whispery voice, forcing himself to shove down the tears that automatically sprang to his eyes.

Ochako took a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded as she considered everything. I mean, this was a dragon they were talking about! A blood-thirsty creature that was known for ripping families apart and plucking humans right off the street just for a quick meal. Their fire had burned down whole cities and their jaws had snapped lives short, leaving vast destruction in their wake. It was legal to kill them for a reason, right? But then again…

“Fuck it,” Ochako whispered under her breath so softly that Izuku questioned whether or not she had even said it. Opening her eyes slowly, Izuku saw a gaze filled with a flare of determination stare right back at him.

“I don’t fully understand this. In fact, I don’t understand any of this, but now is not the time to answer my questions. If this thing is important to you, then I’ll help you because what’s important to you is also important to me, no matter what.”

“U-Uraraka..!” Izuku said with tears starting to spill down his cheeks.

“Just promise to explain everything when it’s all over alright?”

Izuku nodded almost feverishly, his hair flopping with the movement.

“Alright then, let’s go get that dragon.”

________________________________________

Dakota let out a strained groan, every one of her muscles tense with soreness. She opened her eyes and swallowed thickly to find her throat slick with excess saliva and her sight slightly impaired, only blurry moving shapes flashing in front of her. Suddenly, a loud clang directly in front of her face caused her to yelp in surprise and fear.

“Hehe, did I scare ya, beauty?” A cold male voice sneered at her.

Dakota wanted to growl at the voice, but the saliva in her throat made more of a gurgling sound. The voice cackled in response and hit her cage with his spear three times more, the loud clanging piercing her ears and causing her to whimper pitifully.   
“That’s right, there is nothing you can do and nobody to save you, you're here to fetch me and my boys a pretty penny,” The voice said with one last slam against her cage before she heard the sound of footsteps moving away from her. She whined softly to herself, she was alone, alone like she had always been. She had been free for only a short while before it was snatched away from her once more like a candle being snuffed out at night. She closed her eyes as the realization that she was going to be nothing more than some dollar amount once more sank into her heart, her hope dwindling as the thoughts flooded her brain.

That is until someone seemed to come by and light the candle with a lighter so that it could begin to burn bright again. Her heart lifted and her eyes flew open as she felt the softest caress down the bond, warm and reassuring and safe. 

“Dakota?”

Dakota let out a little cry of joy as the soft voice skittered down the bond as if he were whispering in her ear right beside her.

“Are you there? Dakota? Are you awake?”

Dakota tried to respond but her brain was still foggy and her senses were still messed up so all she could manage was a small affectionate growl that reverberated down the bond.

“Shit…” Izuku mumbled down the bond. Dakota immediately felt a sharp pang of concern stab at her heart and sent a warm caress down the bond in an attempt to soothe her rider. “Alright, Dakota stay put and don’t get hurt, we are coming to get you.”

“I-I can’t… really g-go anywhere… n-now can I?” Dakota managed to force down the bond, the tiniest smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Okay, well it’s nice to see that even in tough times your sarcasm remains intact,” Izuku said with a small chuckle down the bond. Dakota’s smile widened slightly at his comment.

“S-Stay safe… okay?” Dakota coughed out through the bond.

“I promise I will,” Izuku responded warmly.

_____________________________________

Ochako watched with a mix of fear and curiosity as Izuku closed his eyes and sighed. He had been sitting like that for a while, not even watching the action below, merely sitting with his eyes closed and breathing deeply. Her alarm only grew when he let out a soft chuckle.

“Deku?”

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he inhaled deeply as if he had been holding his breath underwater for a while. He blinked rapidly and glanced around before making eye contact with Ochako.

“Sorry Uraraka, I’m back now.”

“What the hell does that mean!?” Ochako asked in slight horror.

“I can communicate with Dakota through a bond that we have. I will explain the details later, but for now, I just want you to know that I am okay but Dakota is not. She seems to be awake, but barely. They must have injected her with something. She was able to communicate but not very well and she sounded strained.”

Ochako tilted her head as she considered this. She made a mental note to ask Izuku about this ‘bond’ later but pushed it to the side.

“Well, what are we going to do then? If your dragon is out for the count, how do we plan on not only getting her out of here but also escaping with our heads?”

Izuku rested his chin on his fist, his brows scrunched in thought as he considered her question. His eyes scanned the area, his lips moving as he wordlessly talked himself through the beginnings of a plan. Ochako smiled when after a little while, his eyes lit up, the plan clicking into his head like clockwork. 

“I’ve got it!” He whispered excitedly.

“Alright, lay it on me,” Ochako responded.

“It’s going to be dangerous but I think it will work, let me just ask Dakota something and then I’ll fill you in,” Izuku said, turning back to face the general direction in which Dakota was staying, and closed his eyes again. Ochako waited patiently for him to come back to her. When he turned back to her, his eyes looked hopeful.

“Okay, so I asked Dakota if the other dragons around her are doped up as well. She told me that they were here before her so they had more time for the effects of whatever she was shot with to wear off. She was able to communicate with a Monstrous Nightmare next to her who was perfectly awake. I asked her to talk to them and let them know that we are not the enemy so that we can use them for our escape.”

“You think that will actually work?” Ochako asked, her brow furrowed.

“Yeah, I think so. There is a chance that the dragons won’t believe Dakota about us trying to help them and those Death Gripper dragons could pose a problem but I think we can do it. Are you with me?”

Ochako didn’t even hesitate as she looked into her best friend’s eyes.

“Always.”


	17. The Firecracker & the Fury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I know I am posting on the wrong day but I decided to post today anyway because the chapter is done! It was technically done on Saturday but I decided to change a few things, so here is the new and improved chapter! This is the last chapter for part one so after this chapter I will make part two for this series, picking up during the Hero Killer Stain arc after the sports festival. I really hope you guys enjoy, thank you so much for all of the support, you guys are the ones who keep me writing! Also, just a quick shout out to Xylveon, who actually inspired the interaction at the end of this chapter between Dakota, Ochako, and Izuku. Thanks for the idea Xylveon! Have an amazing week!

Ochako forced herself to remain calm as she crept down the hillside in the dark, her muscles tensed and ready to run if she was spotted. She kept running over the plan in her mind, a mantra of ‘everything is going to be okay, Deku knows what he is doing’ playing through her head as she moved. She glanced over to her right where she saw Izuku slinking down the other end of the hillside, his shadow just barely discernible in the dark of the aging night. Ochako let out a shaky breath and continued to follow his lead, sliding down the muddy slope until she reached the bottom. As soon as her feet were planted on flat ground, Ochako looked up to search for Izuku’s silhouette. At first, she couldn’t see him, and a slight panic rose in her chest, but then she just barely managed to see him slip between some of the dragon cages as he made his way towards the front where all of the dragon hunters were busy moving things around.

Ochako mentally prepared herself, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before moving with refreshed resolve. In one hand, she held an old hairpin of hers while her other hand was raised and prepared to make anyone who came near float into the sky above. She knew that wasn’t the best way to go about this mission, to go about it with nothing more than a hairpin and a sense of justice, but that was all they had with them so she was just going to have to make do. Ochako managed to creep up to one of the dragon cages near the back without being seen, her back pressed up against the cold metal bars and her head tilted to view the front. Her eyes scanned for any sight of someone coming near her, but nobody seemed to know she was there. At least, it seemed that way.

Ochako had been so focused on watching the men and Death Grippers at the front of the field that she didn’t even notice the pair of eyes that watched her from inside the cage. That is until she felt a soft blast of air on her neck, forcing her to slap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from squealing out in surprise. She whirled around and snapped her gaze up to look at the creature that was watching her and had to stop herself from reeling backward. The dragon was huge, even bigger than Izuku’s dragon. It had purple scales and long, sharp spines that crested the top of its head like a crown. The dragon had a head that resembled that of a crocodile and had two long hooks on the joints of its wide wings. The dragon growled a little and moved forward, the sound of something wet making her look down to see that the dragon’s feet were submerged in just a few inches of water which filled the floor of the cage like a giant rain puddle. The dragon growled again which brought Ochako’s eyes back up to meet its steely yellow gaze. Finally snapping out of her stunned daze, Ochako lifted her hands slowly and calmly.

“Shhhhh, shhhhh, I promise I’m not here to hurt you,” Ochako whispered. “I’m here to get you out.”

The dragon tilted its head in curiosity, its eyes narrowing.

“I promise, I’m here to help, I just can’t be spotted.”

The dragon sent a dark look her way, suspicion filling its cold eyes, but it did not call attention to her presence. Ochako let out a relieved sigh and glanced up at the front again. As soon as the coast was clear, Ochako dove for cover behind another cage all while holding the hairpin close to her chest. Peering around the corner one last time, Ochako was just about to make a move to unlock the cage she was standing behind when the giant purple dragon she had just interacted with went crazy. The dragon flapped its wings and banged its tail against the bars of the cage, its throat vibrating with every loud snarl the beast released. Ochako darted back to the safety of her first position just as a Death Gripper came around the corner, slobber dripping from its slightly parted jaws.

Ochako held her breath and waited, her body just barely concealed by the body of the purple dragon who had moved to block her from view. The purple dragon growled loudly at the Death Gripper which growled back, its long tusks brushing the bars of the cage menacingly. The purple dragon eventually backed off which led the Death Gripper to leave after a moment. As soon as the Death Gripper was gone, the purple dragon moved its body away from where it was blocking Ochako and went back to pacing its cage. Ochako was a fluttering mess, the adrenaline pumping through her veins making her heart spin.

That dragon had just saved her life. It had no real reason to, but it had because it knew she was trying to help. She stood with her mouth agape for a second before she remembered the delicacy of the situation and snapped her mouth shut. Moving away from her hiding spot, Ochako walked around to where a bulky rock like dragon was sitting in a cage. Refusing to hesitate this time, Ochako walked quickly to the front and inserted the hairpin into the lock, trying to pick it as fast as possible. The rock-like dragon glanced up at her with depressed eyes and let out a growl.

“I promise I am trying to help,” Ochako repeated from earlier. “Don’t move, as soon as I get this cage unlocked, don’t fly away until I give you the signal.”

Ochako had no real way of knowing if the dragon could actually understand her, which was why she was trying to move as fast as possible, this dragon could burst out of the cage and cause a huge commotion that would ruin their whole plan, but she just had to trust Izuku and follow his orders. She had to if she wanted to stay alive. She finally felt something click and slowly open the cage door just a crack, showing the dragon inside that it was open. She then placed her finger to her lips to signify for the dragon to be silent, unsure if the dragon even knew what that meant. 

The dragon perked up when it saw the opening to the cage door but remained seated on the ground just as Ochako had asked. Giving the dragon a grateful thumbs up, Ochako moved onto the next cage and began unlocking them, one by one. Finally, she made it up to the front row of cages and paused, her body concealed by a blue-scaled dragon with a spiky tail. Ochako had been shocked to find that many of the dragons understood her intentions and the ones who didn’t seem to get it the first time had been convinced by the other dragons around them. Her heart warmed a little as the spiky dragon moved its body to cover hers as the men in front of all of the cages moved around, risking its own life to protect her. She looked around, her gaze scanning the number of cages she had left to unlock.

Ten.

She had ten cages left to unlock. She frowned as she surveyed everything. Unlocking the cages had not been too difficult of a task so far but now that she had reached the front cages she knew it would be impossible to unlock them without being seen so she waited for Izuku’s signal. Just as she was starting to get worried that something had happened to Izuku, the sound of a twig snapping loudly rang in her ears. Ochako raised her head and peered around the cage, looking for the source of the sound.

There, holding a set of keys up to the lock of a dragon’s cage, was Izuku. His face was pale and his hands were shaking with the image of fear, but Ochako knew this was all a facade. The boy had frozen on the spot, his hands hovering over the lock on a cage, and his muscles tensed to run. The men and the dragons who had paused their preparations to stare at Izuku in surprise finally snapped out of it.

“HEY, YOU!”

Izuku wasted no time in sprinting away, his footsteps pounding softly as he ran.

“GET THAT BOY!” One of the men cried out, his hand raising to point at Izuku. At first, only two of the men and a Death Gripper ran after him, pretty confident that Izuku wouldn’t last long on foot. Suddenly, Ochako heard the sound of Izuku’s quirk activating and saw the boy shoot outward, his running speed increasing tenfold.

“WE NEED BACK UP HERE!” One of the men chasing Izuku called out as the hero in training darted in between cages, opening up all of the doors that Ochako had already unlocked. The dragons inside each cage roared and flew out, trampling the men and pinning down the Death Gripper before wreaking havoc on the area.

More of the men and Death Grippers rushed forward, trying to pin down Izuku and capture the unleashed dragons. As soon as the commotion began, Ochako bolted from her hiding place and dove over to the next cage, unlocking it with her hairpin now that the front area was cleared out of reinforcements. This time, as she unlocked each cage Ochako flung the door wide open, allowing the beasts to escape as soon as the lock clicked open. She went down the line of cages, opening them one by one until she reached Dakota’s cage. She paused as she made it to the Night Fury’s cage, her eyes meeting the great beast’s gaze and locking on it, unable to pull away. She finally managed to break the eye contact after a moment and placed the hairpin in the lock. She heard the metallic click of the door unlocking and moved away to open the door of the cage. 

All of a sudden, Ochako felt a huge force rip her backward. Her arms flailed as she was pulled through the air and she let out a whimper when she landed on her back painfully, the air rushing out of her lungs to leave her breathless.

“Well well well,” a dark voice cooed softly. “What do we have here?”

Ochako scrambled into a sitting position and glanced up to see a man with large tentacles coming out of his fingers standing over her, the fleshy tentacles moving and squirming in his hand. Ochako used her legs to push herself away from him, but her inability to properly breathe made it impossible for her to stand up.

“Looks like I’ve found a sneaky one,” the man sneered, his tentacles twitching menacingly. “You know, you were doing quite well, my colleagues and I had no idea you were here for a while, but now that we have found you, your time is up.”

Moving forward with a wicked smile on his face, the man’s arm shot out, his tentacles lengthening and bulging with strengthening muscle. “I guess it’s time to die!” the man called out, his smile widening as the tentacles lashed out at her. Ochako closed her eyes, the tentacles moving so fast that even if she had been able to fully function properly she wouldn’t have been able to move. The gravity girl waited for the force of the tentacles to knock her out cold, or for the feeling of breaking bone once they wrapped around her but nothing came. Ochako slowly opened her eyes after a moment but found her whole body tensing in shock and her eyes flying open when she saw what was in front of her. Instead of a huge mass of tentacles crushing her to a pulp, Ochako saw Dakota standing in front of her, three tentacles caught in her jaws while the others were wrapped around her legs and waist, not quite strong enough to harm the dragon too much.

Dakota yelped as two of the tentacles cracked one of her leg bones but channeled her pain into anger, biting down harder on the tentacles in her mouth until they burst open, ruby-red blood dripping into her mouth. Dakota dropped the dead tentacles and used her claws to puncture the ones that were trying to wrap around her body, finally detangling herself from the man’s quirk. As soon as she was free, Dakota turned on a dime and leaned down, clamping Ochako’s shirt in her teeth lightly but firmly and leaping away just as the man sent a fresh wave of tentacles her way. Dakota pumped her wings just enough to get some air and glide away from the man and his groping tentacles, and then landed near the last four cages that needed to be unlocked, the dragons inside pacing and clawing at the bars. Dakota dropped Ochako and scanned her body for wounds, her eyes kind and gentle. Once she was sure that Ochako had her breath back and was uninjured enough to move around on her own, Dakota nudged her hand and took off again, aiming to attack a Death Gripper that was trying to subdue a nearby Deadly Nadder.  
Ochako watched Dakota with suppressed awe until the dark dragon disappeared beneath the claws and tusks of the Death Gripper. She had saved Ochako. Even though Ochako had run away from her as if she were a monster, even though Ochako had been prepared to fight the dragon to save her friend, the dragon had saved her without batting an eye. She was still so unsure of everything that Izuku was involved with but maybe, just maybe, Izuku was right about what dragons were really like. Shaking her head to clear her whirling thoughts, Ochako went back to unlocking the dragon cages with the hairpin, her eyes set with a newfound determination.

_________________________________

Izuku groaned in pain. Using his quirk had indeed helped them a ton in releasing the trapped dragons but now, he could barely walk, his broken toes screaming in pain with every step he took. He now crouched behind a stack of nearby wooden crates, his knees bent and ready to spring should someone find him. He could hear the sound of fire being blasted and lots of yelling, which gave Izuku hope. Ochako must have released every dragon in the camp. Worry suddenly gnawed at his heart at the thought of Ochako. Even with this poorly put together plan, even with the danger, even with the uncertainty, Ochako had not even hesitated to put her life at risk to help him. She had not questioned a single part of his plan and had given him hope that his plan was even possible. As he sat there, crouched behind those boxes, Izuku made a vow to tell her how much he cared about her when this was all over and to explain absolutely everything as soon as possible.

After nothing happened for a short bit of time, Izuku risked a peek around the boxes only to immediately hide back behind them as his eyes revealed a huge Death Gripper dragon only twelve feet away from him. The dragon growled low in its throat and swung its head around to scan its surroundings. Drool dripped from its mouth and landed with a sharp splatting sound on the rocks that littered the meadow floor. Izuku placed a hand over his mouth the silence the sound of his ragged breathing as the beast got closer and closer to the stack of boxes, its hisses and growls sending shivers down Izuku’s spine. The sounds of the dragon finally started to fade and Izuku was able to relax slightly, closing his eyes and releasing a slow breath of relief.

Izuku let out a loud yelp when the stack of boxes behind him very suddenly burst into flames. He was lucky enough to avoid catching on fire but unlucky enough to attract the attention of the great slobbering Death Gripper dragon which pounced on him immediately, leaping over the flaming boxes and knocking Izuku to the ground roughly. Izuku felt himself hyperventilating, he tried to get ahold of his thoughts, to think of some way out of this situation, but his mind felt blank. Those incredibly long tusks leaning closer and closer to his body, ready to impale him, its beady orange eyes glaring at him and its drool slapping onto his shirt and pants as it leaned ever closer. Izuku was just about ready to become the Death Gripper’s next meal when all of a sudden, the weight was thrown off of him.

“D-Dakota?” Izuku coughed out.

There was no response and so as soon as he had the strength, Izuku looked up in concern, hoping that she was not too injured.

Instead of the familiar form of his Night Fury dragon attacking the Death Gripper, what he found was a huge Skrill dragon, small shocks of lightning bouncing off of its wings and its long talons pinning the Death Gripper to the ground. The Death Gripper tried to sting the Skrill with its venomous tail but the Skrill had its other foot pinning that to the meadow ground as well, its teeth bared and its golden gaze narrowed sharply in anger at the slobbering beast beneath it.

Izuku was stunned for a moment but managed to snap out of it and wasted no time in running off, checking every cage as he went to make sure that every dragon had made it out and that none had been recaptured. He searched for both Ochako and Dakota as he went, darting between cages and even ducking around fighting men and dragons to look for them. He felt himself starting to panic as his eyes gave him no information on their whereabouts, concern starting to eat him alive. 

The dragon trap camp was starting to clear out, more and more of the dragons flying away to safety after subduing the Death Grippers and trappers that attacked them. Izuku had to stop to help a few of the dragons by cutting them out of ropes they had gotten tangled up in or releasing recaptured dragons from their locked cages but there was still no sign of Dakota nor Ochako. Fighting the bubbling feeling of worry and panic in his gut, Izuku scouted the area for the tenth time, even whispering their names when he was sure no enemies were around to hear him. Soon enough, there were only a few fighting dragons left in the area, and his friends were nowhere to be found. Abandoning all efforts to remain hidden, Izuku began to run around in the open, calling out for the pair with fear lacing each word.

“Dakota! Ochako! Where are you!?”

Izuku was just about to run in another direction and call again when talons gripped his shoulders and hoisted him upwards sharply. Izuku let out a cry of surprise and turned to attack his abductor when he froze, the giant wings of the Skrill coming into view. The beast glared down at him and growled at him, the sound remaining unthreatening despite the deep shiver it sent down Izuku’s spine and the gooseflesh that sprung up on the surface of his skin. The Skrill’s wings beat harder, allowing the beast to fly higher and higher into the air, the last few dragons also taking off and flying away from the trapper site. Izuku tried to calm his breathing as they turned sharply, his shoulders beginning to feel sore from the weight of the dragon’s claws. He had no idea where the dragon was taking him or where Dakota and Ochako were, but all he could do was wait as the dragon soared ever higher, until they were able to shoot above the cloudline.

The Skrill flew in silence for a little while, keeping straight and flying just above the cloudline where they couldn’t be seen. Occasionally, little bolts of lightning would skitter across the great wings of the beast but they never shocked Izuku, even when they would sometimes jolt down the dragon’s legs. Izuku remained silent as well despite the tide of questions that were pushing at the edge of his tongue to be asked, not wanting to become dragon food at the expense of it. Despite the fact that it felt like ages of silence, it was only a few minutes of flying when the Skrill suddenly shoved its wings forward, pulling itself to a stop and hovering just above the clouds. Even before Izuku could figure out what was going on, the Skrill let out a loud roar that seemed to even make the clouds ripple. Izuku waited with bated breath until a familiar roar responded in kind.

“Dakota!” Izuku called out in relief as her familiar form came into view, her large wings ghosting the clouds as she sped towards them. “And… Ochako!?” It had taken him a moment but as soon as Dakota had gotten just a little bit closer, he noticed that Ochako was seated firmly on Dakota’s back, holding on as if for dear life, but alive and uninjured. Dakota flew right up to the Skrill and the electric dragon lifted up his legs to place Izuku gently on her back just behind Ochako.

“Hey! It’s you!” Ochako managed to say once she saw the Skrill flying in front of them.

“Do you know this dragon?” Izuku asked in shock.

“A little I guess. He saved my life when I first went down to unlock the dragon cages at the camp.”

Izuku turned back to the Skrill and held his hand out. The Skrill looked at him suspiciously and hesitated but then eventually closed his eyes and pressed his nose into Izuku’s palm.

“Thank you,” Izuku said in a near whisper.

The Skrill opened his eyes and dipped his head once before turning to look at Ochako. Ochako looked back at him and managed a smile even through her anxiety at being on a dragon’s back.

“Thank you,” She said, mirroring Izuku.

The Skrill purred at her and flicked his tail happily.

“Hey, I think he likes you!” Izuku said, turning to look at his friend.

“Really? Is- Is that a good thing?”

Izuku smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty good thing,” He said. Turning to look back at the Skrill who was still hovering near them, his powerful wings causing little puffs of cloud to rise up around them, Izuku smiled. “You want to come along?”

The dragon did not answer but did follow them when Dakota began to make her way back to the dragon sanctuary at Fumihiro’s little cabin.

__________________________________

Fumihiro had been a little less than thrilled when he had woken up to the sound of heavy pounding on his door and heard what had just transpired between Izuku, Ochako, and the band of dragon trappers. He had chewed Izuku out for a while but had been too tired to give a proper lecture and had allowed the teens to go place the dragons back in the sanctuary and make sure they got settled back in okay. Izuku and Ochako now sat together under the swaying shelter of a peach tree, Dakota and the Skrill sitting nearby, nervously watching the pair.

They were silent for a long time, merely listening to the sound of the tree leaves swaying in the breeze. Izuku was a bundle of nerves, his fingers fiddling amongst themselves and his leg bouncing in place. The air was cool but he could feel the sweat sliding down his face as he waited for Ochako to say something. Anything.

“Deku?”

“Yeah?” He said almost too quickly, the words jumping off of his tongue.

“You don’t have to look so nervous.”

“I don’t?” He asked, turning to face her.

Ochako sighed softly. “No, you don’t.”

He waited patiently for her to continue, his fingers pausing in their messing around as all of his focus narrowed onto her and what she was saying. He had to push down a slight blush as the thought of how pretty she looked with the moon glowing on her skin crossed his mind.

“Deku, look. I… I still don’t know much but… but that whole experience did show me some things. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t doubt you so much anymore.” Her eyes met his and he saw that they were shining a little with the beginnings of a few tears. “D-Dakota, she’s okay? She won’t hurt you? Or me?”

“No! No, she won’t,” Izuku said, softly but quickly, a watery smile dawning on his face as he spoke.

“O-Okay, that’s good.”

“Yeah, honestly she’s more like a giant puppy dog than anything,” Izuku said. Dakota lifted her head and growled lightheartedly but didn’t deny it, her tail even wagging slightly.

Ochako chuckled a little, her eyes moving to study the dark dragon.

“How did this happen, Deku? How did you get to this place?” She finally asked, her hand reaching back to brush some of her hair behind her ear.

“Are you sure you want to hear everything? Are you ready to listen to it all?”

“Whether I’m ready or not I think I deserve to know what is going on, don’t you think?”

“Oh, yeah! That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, just please, explain everything.”

Izuku began by explaining how he found Dakota in the woods, bleeding and half-dead and how all of those men had tried to kill them. He admitted that he had no idea what had happened after he felt the burn on his hand where the bond mark showed up but he explained how she had shown up to his house soon after in the form of a dog.

“So Dakota the dog is also the dragon?” Ochako asked.

“Yeah, it’s her disguise to keep hunters from tracking her down, and also just for convenience, so that I can take her places without arousing suspicion.”

He then told her about his mentors, Haruka and Emiko along with their quirks and what they told him about being bonded to the dragon rather than being marked for food. He told her everything, all about how Dakota was the last Night Fury of her species and that’s why she is so hunted. He told her about how he came to meet Fumihiro and his son Jack. He told them how he was training with them to work with Dakota as a dragon rider and to soon incorporate her into his hero training.

“I am going to make it so that dragons aren’t so feared and hated anymore. I want to make it so that this society of heroes can utilize and work with these amazing creatures to make this a better world. Dakota is my best friend and I want other people to be able to appreciate her as well,” Izuku said, his eyes moving to rest on his beloved Night Fury, who had moved closer to Izuku so that she could rest her head on his lap. He reached a hand over and scratched at the scales on her ear and felt her begin to purr, the sound vibrating through his legs.

“I guess all of that makes sense but then why was she attacking you when I met her for the first time? You were in pain, and that man, Fumihiro, he was helping her to hurt you.”

“Oh!” Deku said. “I’m sorry Ochako, but you didn’t actually watch what was happening did you? You were just listening from behind the trees, right?”

“Yeah,” Ochako responded, crossing her legs to make herself more comfortable.

Deku chuckled slightly. “Actually, uh, despite the fact that she is my best friend, Dakota and I still don’t fully understand each other. Fumihiro was trying to teach me how to fly her, but she kept getting really nervous about having a human on her back. As I told you before, she was horribly tortured by humans before I met her, which led to her having panic attacks when I sat on her back. I was also an unbalanced mess, it’s way different to ride each dragon and so even though I have ridden on Cassian before, being on Dakota’s back felt like the difference between being sober and being drunk. She is so much leaner and smaller than Cassian, and she had smooth scales rather than tough bones so it just took me a while to get the hang of it. What you were hearing was me falling off about every thirty seconds.” Izuku said, rubbing the back of his neck with slight embarrassment. Dakota glanced up at Izuku, amusement glimmering in her eyes, and sighed contentedly as his hand continued to pet her.

Ochako watched them for a moment, her posture much more relaxed than since before he had explained everything, and her eyes a lot warmer than from when she had first seen the dragons.

“Deku, may I?” Ochako asked, raising her hand up questioningly.

“Oh, of course! Just use your palm to smooth over the scales and then you can use your fingers to scratch where she likes it.,” Izuku said with a smile that could rival the sun.

Ochako giggled at his enthusiasm and then leaned over slightly to rest her hand on Dakota’s head. She moved her hand slowly at first, careful not to do anything that Dakota didn’t like but eventually moved into a more relaxed rhythm as time passed. Leaning over more, Ochako moved her one hand to scratch behind Dakota’s ear and then added her other hand to scratch just under Dakota’s chin, right near the back of her jawline. Dakota’s purring instantly grew louder, but what Ochako didn’t expect was for Izuku to very suddenly seem to melt against the trunk of the tree, his whole body relaxing and a gentle groan leaving his slightly parted lips. Ochako glanced over at him with one eyebrow raised and Izuku jolted back to his previous position, shock, and confusion evident on his features.

“What was that?” He whispered softly in awe.

“That was from our bond,” Dakota said down the bond. “I accidentally let my shields go down when she was petting me since it felt so nice, which opened up a part of our bond that I had been keeping shut since we were on a dangerous mission where I was injured. I didn’t want you to feel my pain. But now, since we are relaxed, when she began to scratch me like that, my focus strayed and you felt what I was feeling.”

“Whoa,” Izuku said under his breath.

“What?” Ochako asked in slight embarrassment.

“Oh! Nothing!” Izuku said, the blood rushing to his cheeks in a furious blush as he waved his hands in front of him. Ochako shrugged it off and went back to petting Dakota softly but a smile now tugged at the corners of her lips. Ochako then felt something lightly brush her side. She jumped a little at the feeling but when she turned to look over she found that it was merely the Skrill’s tail lightly brushing her side. She had been so preoccupied with Dakota that she hadn’t even noticed that he had moved closer to her. The dragon was watching her with kind eyes and his wings were fanning out slightly as the breeze teased the edges of them.

“See I told you he likes you Ochako!” Izuku said, beaming.

Ochako pouted teasingly at Izuku’s smug face but then turned back to the electric dragon, her hands leaving Dakota to reach towards him.

“Hello Mr. Skrill, my name is Ochako Uraraka,” Ochako whispered. The Skrill leaned forward and pressed his nose into her palm, a purring sound sparking up in his throat at her touch.

“Well you can’t go on calling him Mr. Skrill, why don’t you give him a name? That way you can get to know him more. Naming Dakota really helped us bond,” Izuku said, placing a hand on Dakota’s head.

Ochako thought about it for a moment.

“Alright, how about…” Ochako placed her thumb on her chin as she thought.

“How about Legoshi? I saw that name as the name of a character in a new good book that I’m reading!”

The Skrill tilted his head, almost as if he were thinking it over and then dipped his head once, his purring getting louder.

“Whoa…” Ochako whispered. “Legoshi it is then.”


End file.
